Fishermen say oil spill killing scallops

Yang Jizhen, head of the local aquaculture association, looks at the contaminated water at the Bihai Bathing Beach in Laoting county of Tangshan city, North China's Hebei province, July 26, 2011. More than 160 groups of scallop-raising fishermen have reported to the local agricultural bureau that more than half of the scallops cultivated in a shore area of 23 hectares died after greasy oil particles were found along a 25-km beach. Fishermen said the source of the contamination is the oil spill at the Penglai 19-3 oil field jointly operated by the Houston-based ConocoPhillips' China subsidiary and its Chinese partner China National Offshore Oil Corp. Several government departments in Laoting, including the marine affairs bureau and the environment protection bureau, are investigating the contamination. [Photo/CFP]