reef

Sussex Wildlife Trust said dumped sediment was "impacting the sensitive chalk reef and harming its wildlife".

Coral reefs worldwide have been suffering from a two-year-long global coral bleaching event, due to record high ocean temperatures.

The Scarborough Shoal, a triangular chain of reefs and rocks, has been a flashpoint between the two countries since China seized it in 2012.

The reef has "experienced unprecedented levels of heat stress, which caused the most spatially extensive and severe bleaching recorded to date," the report found.

While there are some ingredients in suntan lotions - like oxybenzone - that can cause environmental damage to coral reefs, there is not evidence to suggest it poses a risk to humans, Dr McCann says.