In January, a court ordered the developer of an

Every year China allows about 120 square kilometres of sea to be used for land reclamation, Wang said.

An annual report from the SOA shows that the ecological environment of the 11 coastal provinces was seriously damaged by land reclamation, pollution and coastal erosion.

According to the relevant laws, anyone involved in illegal land reclamation projects will be fined five to 15 times what he paid for the project. In 2008, the SOA issued fines totaling 27 million yuan for illegal coastal reclamation.

In January, a court ordered the developer of an illegal luxury villa floating on the sea in Guangdong province to return the occupied sea.

Last year, the government planned to develop Hainan into a top international tourist destination, including building a five-star hotel on a man-made island in Haikou.

In total, the added value created by coastal tourism reached 375 billion yuan last year, a year-on-year increase of 12.3 percent.