BEIJING, Sept. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- After reports about the Bohai Bay oil leak came to the public's attention, concerns have been raised about the possible environmental damage. Since then, there have been reports of an increasing loss of seafood harvest in fishing farms in Bohai Bay..

Changdao Island in north of Shandong province was among the first to report findings of oil belts along its coast. Since then, fishing farms in the area have suffered great losses in the harvest. But the fishing farmers in the area can't quite agree on what has caused the problem.

Fishing Farmer, Changdao Island, said, "It's definitely not oil. I raise sea cucumbers. They can't survive with oily water."

Fishing Farmer, Changdao Island, said, "You can see the oil stains along the coast and you can see them on the beach."

Both the Ministry of Agricultural and the State Oceanic Administration have conducted investigations there after the initial reports. But results showed that there's no direct link between the loss of the fishing harvest and the Bohai oil leak.

And in a similar case in Laoting, a city along the Bohai Bay, where the loss of profit was estimated to have reached 300 million yuan, the authorities offered the same conclusion.

Without proof of a direct link, the fish farmers will have a difficult time seeking compensation. But they say they will continue to collect evidence and seek legal action against ConocoPhillips.

But in another two cases where authorities identified the oil leak in the Bohai Bay as the direct cause of harvest losses, ConocoPhillips disagreed with the findings and proceeded to conduct their own study that came to a different conclusion.

(Source: CNTV.cn)