US expert: Images show Chinese ship waste endangering reefs near the Philippines

In this Aug. 6, 2016, file photo released by the 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters of Japan, a Chinese coast guard vessel sails near disputed East China Sea islands. China claims almost all of the South China Sea, has built military bases on artificial islands in the disputed area and routinely objects to any action by the U.S. military in the region. AP-

MANILA, July 13 (AP): Swarms of Chinese vessels have dumped human waste and wastewater for years in a disputed area of the South China Sea, causing algae blooms that have damaged coral reefs and threatened fish in an unfolding catastrophe, a US based expert said Monday.

Satellite images over the last five years show how human waste, sewage and wastewater have accumulated and caused algae in a cluster of reefs in the Spratlys region where hundreds of Chinese fishing ships have anchored in batches, said Liz Derr, who heads Simularity Inc., a software company creating artificial intelligence technologies for satellite imagery analysis.