Walker Shoal, also known as Manbu Ansha () is a shoal in the

Macclesfield Bank Macclesfield Bank is an elongated sunken atoll of underwater reefs and shoals in the South China Sea. It lies east of the Paracel Islands, southwest of Pratas Island and north of the Spratly Islands. It is about long from southwest to northeast ...

in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phi ...

. There are no islands, no land above sea-level, no settlements, and no inhabitants in the region. The least depth shown on the

nautical chart A nautical chart is a graphic representation of a sea area and adjacent coastal regions. Depending on the scale of the chart, it may show depths of water and heights of land ( topographic map), natural features of the seabed, details of the co ...

is . Although the area is claimed by the PRC and the ROC, no country has control of the region. The PRC claim that it is administered as part of the Zhongsha Dao and Jiao Neighborhood Committee township-level division, in the county-level division of Zhongsha District of Sansha prefecture-level city, in

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

province. However, it is not clear where the seat of this committee is. An Xinhuanet.com story dated 27 June 2013 stated that "a maritime fishery resource breeding and research base" had been established in the area. The article goes on to say: :''The base ... covers a sea area of 625 hectares ... Aquaculture researchers will put 20,000 grouper fry, 20,000 spats of pearl oysters, 20,000 spats of pteria penguin, a genus of winged oyster, and 20,000 pieces of red seaweeds eucheuma into the sea for research ... Researchers will carry out a field investigation and scientific research activities on the meteorological, hydrological and topographic conditions, maritime species, submarine grassland and coral reefs in the Manbu Ansha area over the next three days ...

References

{{Hainan-geo-stub Zhongsha Islands