Jun. 2015. Vol. 6(1)ISSN 2287-8971

1. Participation in experts' workshop on microplastics (Korea)
2 Research for countermeasure framework against marine plastic litter in Korea (Korea)
3. Suggestions for pollution caused by oyster farming along Tainan coast, Taiwan (Taiwan)
4. Guard China’s Coastline - CoastalClean-up and Monitoring Project in China (China)
5. Distant Shorelines Offer Help (Canada)
6. Okinawa organizations visited Taiwan and helped out with beach clean-up (Taiwan)
7. NGO activities to deal with marine litter in the Russian Far East (Russia)
8. Human efforts have reduced wild birds' exposure to marine debris: A case in Korea (Korea)

Marine Litter News_ 1

Preface
Dear readers from around the world concerned with marine litter,

Recently Pr. Jamback and other scientists
estimated the quantity of plastic entering
the world ocean from land. The resultclearly shows southeastern asian countries
significantly contribute to the production of
mismanaged plastic waste. The scientists
also predicted continuous accumulation ofplastic wastes in the ocean.
In the context this volume delivers
interesting news on the civil societies'
actions and researches against plastic
marine litter in the east Asia. Our Sea of
East Asia Network of South Korea has been involved in the GESAMP working group toaddressing microplastics as an expert. Governmental response on plastic marine litter has
been begun in South Korea.
Transportation of marine litter from one country to other countries may cause conflicts
among governments in local or national level. However, here are good examples toovercome uncomfortable relationships. Local governments of Japan and Taiwan have had ajoint program to exchange ideas and strategies to struggle this issue. And Canada andJapan have been connected by tsunami debris caused by the big earthquake in NE Japan,
March 2011. Solution of specific litter items should be seeked continuously like in Taiwan.
Civil societies' conservation activity in South Korea could significantly reduce the impactof plastic litter on an endangered species' nesting (Black-faced spoonbill). You can encountthe Russian report on long-term efforts in the Far East Russia for the first time in thisvolume.
From this issue, Shanghai Rendu, a non-profit organization in the mainland of China has
become a member of East Asia Civil Forum on Marine Litter. The organization was
founded at June 2007. Its mission is "No Trash Ocean". It is expected to be aprofessional NGO which is devoted to empower citizens to participate in the action ofocean conservation. Please welcome its involvement.

Green Fins Association (GFA) which has been a crucial member of the Forum,
however, gets no longer with us. I would like to give special thanks to our partner, Ms.
Kanyarat Kosavisutte of GFA who has devoted herself to promote communities
engagement and to raise awareness of marine litter issue for long time in Thailand.
Please check her contribution in the previous issue of the Newsletter.

Marine Litter News_ 2

Though the marine litter problem seems to become more serious year by year, I havebecome confident from this news that we, the humans, have the willingness and ability tocope with this problem.
With love,
May 2015,
Sunwook Hong (Ph.D., President of OSEAN)

SAVE THE DATES▒ 2015 Cross-Straits Clean Ocean Movement, Taiwan
 Date: September 12~14, 2015
 Venue: Keelung, Taiwan
 For more information, please contact Mr. Jason Hu (jason@wilderness.tw)

2. ▒ 13th Marine Litter Summit in Japan Date: October 23~25, 2015
 Venue: Fukue Island in Goto City, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan
 Contents: Field observation and cleanup at the beach and an exchange
workshop Theme of discussion:
1. For progress of the international cooperation in counterplans to marine
litter
2. Remote islands' promotion as the marine litter problem
 Guest from Overseas (planned): OSEAN from the Republic of Korea,
Kuroshio Ocean Education Foundation from Taiwan, and Shanghai Rendu
from People's Republic of China.

3 _Nov.2015.Vol.6(1)ACTIVITIES
1. Participation in experts' workshop on microplastics
By Sunwook Hong, Korea Marine Litter Institute, president of OSEAN,
oceanook@gmail.com

Recommended Citation:

Hong, Sunwook. (2015). Participation in experts' workshop on microplastics in marine environment. Marine
Litter News from East Asia Civil Forum on Marine Litter, Vol. 6(1): 4-5.

Scientists participating the workshop on microplastics in the marine environment (Rome, April 20~22)

How can scientists contribute to the solution of the global plastic

In the first phase, nineteen experts contributed to the reportmarine debris issue? An experts' workshop for "Global assessment

entitled "Sources, fate and effects of microplastics in the marineof microplastics" was held at the FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy

environment: a global assessment" released earlier this year. In thefrom 20 to 22 April, which has been supported by UNEP, IMO,

report, they concluded that microplastics are increasing in

UNESCO-IOC, and FAO. There were over thirty scientists,abundance, ingested by a large variety of organisms, can cause

members of GESAMP working group invited to kick off the actions

physical harm, and cannot be removed from the environment inrecommended in the 1st phase (2012~2014). They were to make asignificant quantities. Additives and absorbed organic contaminants

comprehensive report on a global assessment of microplastic

may have an ecotoxicological effect. And They recommended

pollution status for UNEP for the 2nd phase (2015~2017).

identifying the main sources and categories of plastics andmicroplastics entering the ocean, utilising end-of life plastic as avaluable resource rather than a waste product, and promoting greaterawareness of the negative impacts of plastics and microplastics ofsociety and the environment.

Marine Litter News_ 4

In the second phase, a comprehensive assessment of the topic

Marine microplastic debris has been acknowledged as anwith input from a wide range of disciplines will be carried out. The

important environmental issue. Based on compiling of up-to-dateworkshop participants will provide input to the 2nd United Nations

information and knowledge, the scientists will provide implications

Environment Assembly (May 2016) on topics such as sources,

on how we should respond to this issue.

distribution, fate, and hot spots of microplastics, ecological impacts,
commercial fish and shellfish (in terms of fish and human health),socio-economic aspects, and harmonization of research methods.
Three scientists (Drs. Hideshige Takada of Tokyo University ofAgriculture and Technology, Won Joon Shim of Korea Institute of
Ocean Science and Technology, and Sunwook Hong of Our Sea of
East Asia Network) including me from Asia participated and willtake on a role in their specialized areas. I, a unique participant fromthe NGO sector presented the practices to find solutions to themarine debris problem in Korea in the socio-economic point ofview.
Group discussion to agree terms of references on each specific topic of
microplastics

The 1st report on microplastics by GESAMP experts recently released

Scientists participating the workshop on microplastics in the marine
environment (Rome, April 20)

5 _Nov.2015.Vol.6(1)ACTIVITIES
2. Research for countermeasure framework against marine plastic litterin Korea
By Sujin Kim, Korean Marine Environment Management Corporation
sellybob@koem.or.kr

Recommended Citation:

Kim, Sujin. (2015). Research for countermeasure framework against marine plastic litter in Korea. Marine Litter
News from East Asia Civil Forum on Marine Litter, Vol. 6(1): 6-7.

First meeting for research for countermeasure framework against marine plastic litter in Korea

Marine litter has been drawing much attention recently because of
its ubiquitousness, durability and adverse impact on marine

plastic industry has to prepare for the international regulations on its
industry in the future.

organisms. Researchers, policy makers, and citizen groups aroundthe world have been doing their best to reduce, mitigate and prevent

On this demand, Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) andproblems caused by marine litter. However, these problems,

Korean Marine Environment Management Corporation (KOEM)

particularly the marine plastic litter problem has worsened in recent

asked the Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology and Our

decades and many countries have struggled with the matter.

Sea of East Asia Network (OSEAN) to develop a countermeasure

Recently Science published a paper reporting plastic debris inputs

framework against marine plastic litter. For the research, scientists

from land to ocean around the world and United Nations

from KIOST and researchers from OSEAN gathered on the 29th ofEnvironment Program is in preparation to deal with the problem

January and discussed research priorities and created a list for thecaused by marine plastic litter.

research contents. During this meeting a government official from
the MOF pointed out that the marine plastic litter problem isIn this context Korea has to prepare for an international regime

involved in the various fields and has many stake holders. He addedon the marine plastic debris and subsequent regulations. First, wethat it is important for the policy makers to listen to their opinions

have to know how much plastic debris is generated and how muchand reflect them in their policies.

the debris enters into the ocean in Korea. In particular, the Korean

Marine Litter News_ 6

He continued that once plastic litter enters into the ocean it causes
serious problems, so the Ministry of Environment (MOE) as well as
MOF have to play an important role to prevent plastic litter fromentering into the ocean.

He suggested that people from the plastic industry and fisheries
attend the meeting and express their opinions and experiences. The
attendants agreed that they would gather the suggestions from theprofessionals and filter them in order to make a road map for the
research. The second meeting for the research was held in Seoul on
6th of Spring. Between the days of the first and second meeting the
researchers gathered in a small group and expressed and polishedtheir suggestions. They also exchanged their opinions and progresson the project by e-mail frequently.

Second meeting for research for countermeasure framework against
marine plastic litter in Korea

1. The overview of the framework
The second meeting was the final meeting. During the meeting,the speaker summarized the research contexts and introduced thebrochure and video for publicizing the marine plastic debris
problem. The research consists of five fields - governance,

2. Potential problems of the marine plastic litter and analysis of thecurrent countermeasures of Korea and other countries
3. Current state of production, consumption, and recycling for theplastics

management of the sources, improving public awareness, collecting

4. Reduction program of the marine plastic litterand treatment, research projects- and each field includes

5. Programs for reduction of its impacts, collection, treatment, andcountermeasures which should be conducted in the upcoming 10
years. The research also suggests the period in which the work
should done and the way in which the work can be done. They hopethat the framework will be a preparation for international regulations
and countermeasures against the marine plastic litter. The chaptersof the framework are as follows.

recycling of marine plastic debris
6. Direction for the international cooperation against marine plastic
litter
7. Governance for the integrated management for the marine plastic
litter

7 _Nov.2015.Vol.6(1)ACTIVITIES
3. Suggestions for pollution caused by oyster farming along Tainan coast,
TaiwanBy Mr. Chao Rui Guang, researcher in Tainan Community University
c7720831@gmail.com

Recommended Citation:

Guang, Chao Rui. (2015). Suggestions for pollution caused by oyster farming along Tainan coast, Taiwan.
Marine Litter News from East Asia Civil Forum on Marine Litter, Vol. 6(1): 8-9.

Bamboo racks are used as fishery gears for oyster aquaculture in
Taiwan. Oyster cultivation usually starts in October each year, andthey are harvested in March the year after. There are approximately
10,000 racks for each year. Before every June, the typhoonseason, the harvest is completed. Much debris is found from March
every year.
From May 2010, tens of thousands of huge pieces of Styrofoam
were washed offshore. The city government started to havemeetings with NGOs and fishermen to find solutions. Different
floating gears, made by different materials, and recycling

4.

Make new regulations to improve marine litter pollution,
assigning a specific governmental organization to be incharge.

References:1.

Preliminary study on the effect of oyster cultivation onwater purification and carbon sequestration. (National
Cheng Kung University, Taiwan).
 One study shows that an individual oyster shell has a
growth rate of 0.3g/day. It is roughly estimated that a

incentives were implemented. However, the problem is still
serious. The following are the suggestions after one decade ofmonitoring:

surface area of 1m2 can store 0.78kg of carbon dioxide
per day.
http://www.tsoe.org.tw/downloads/thesis/2010D9.pdf

1.
2.

3.

Recycling of Styrofoam and bamboo racks should be
separated. Styrofoam should be collected manually.
The oyster racks maintain biodiversity by providing
shelters for many marine organisms. Recycled racks
could be collected to a certain area offshore, providing
artificial reef spaces and an opportunity for tourism.
Further scientific research and experiments should be
conducted to testify its feasibility.
Replace EPS foams with other materials for floating buoys,
as they do not break down into small fragments as easily.

Fig 1. EPS pollution (1)Marine Litter News_ 8

Ecosystem services of oysters (Fisheries ResearchInstitute, COA, Taiwan)
http://www.tfrin.gov.tw/friweb/frienews/enews0065/s1.h
tml
2.

Oyster racks provide shelters for marine organisms(Miyajima Public Aquarium, Japan)
http://cgi4.nhk.or.jp/ecochannel/jp/movie/play.cgi?did=D0013772472_00000

Fig 2. EPS pollution (2)Fig 3. EPS pollution (3)Fig 6. Oysters racks provide shelters for marine organisms (1)Fig 4. EPS foams are used as floating gears offshore

Fig 7. Oysters racks provide shelters for marine organisms (2)Fig 8. Oysters racks provide shelters for marine organisms (3)Fig 5. EPS foams recycling

9 _Nov.2015.Vol.6(1)ACTIVITIES
4. Guard China’s Coastline - Coastal Clean-up and Monitoring Project inChina
By Yonglong Liu, Shanghai Rendu Ocean NPO Development Centerliuyonglun@163.com

Recommended Citation:

Liu, Yonglong. (2015). Guard China’s Coastline - Coastal Clean-up and Monitoring Project in China. Marine
Litter News from East Asia Civil Forum on Marine Litter, Vol. 6(1): 10-11.

A 'Coastal clean-up and monitoring project' in China wasgovernment departments at all levels of the coastline of waste

launched jointly by Shenzhen Mangrove Wetlands Conservation

management policy, and to become an open and cooperative

Foundation and Shanghai Rendu Ocean NPO Development Center.

platform with the participation of social force in the coastline

The project was officially started on November 1st, 2014. Besides

garbage problem in Mainland China.

Shanghai Rendu, the project also involved joint participants, which
are professional institutions and volunteer communities dedicated tomarine protection in 11 different cities.

The project is composed of four parts: scientific monitoring
activity, a public version of the coastal cleanup, a national coastline
garbage clean-up and monitoring website, and annual marine waste

The project aims to unite social forces, to mobilize the public toreport. At present the national coastline garbage clean-up andparticipate in the coastline cleanup and monitoring, to coordinate

monitoring website has been completed, and was formally launchedsocial organizations and research institutions to carry out researchon April 22nd.

on monitoring of coastline garbage, to provide support for

Coastal clean-up and monitoring project in China

Marine Litter News_ 10

National monitoring activities have been able to complete the first——Thus it can be seen that the development of the marine

and second monitoring. In each monitoring activity, Shanghai Rendu

industry protection is still very slow, marine protection in China has

and the other 11 area monitoring institutions uniformly proceeded

to be developed, not only the public, but also more and morescientific research and monitoring activities on the coastline oforganizations should accept public education and professional

garbage by the end of each single month. After monitoring thetraining of marine protection. While the goal of involving more

activities, they upload monitoring activities record, data spreadsheet

institutions to participate in the marine protection will not be easy to

and ICC card photos.

achieve, at least we can let them know what we are doing, and themeaning, importance and significance of marine conservation.

We uniformly trained all the monitoring institutions in advance,
participated in the on-site activities of individual institutions andsupervised them, in the first and second monitoring activities, there

Although there are problems, there are many highlights of theactivities.

are still some problems.
——Because every monitoring institution is located in a different——The localization and use - ICC card

city and the on-site environment and many factors are different, they

Most monitoring organizations are generally reflected in the processadjust measures to local conditions. After two scientific researchof the specific garbage classification, there is garbage that cannot be

and monitoring activities, each monitoring institution has somedefined and they do not know into which category they should

experience suitable for its own region, and summarizes some

divide it, while there is garbage beyond the range of ICC card

methods of operation which can help its own regional monitoringclassification. In the use of the number of statistics, the Chinese

activities to be carried out more smoothly.

people are more accustomed to painting words with the Chinesecharacter “正” as a method of counting. Therefore, we have a slight
modification to the ICC card to facilitate the use of local China.
——Inaccuracy of garbage weighing
Garbage such as cigarette butts and bottle caps have the advantagesof small volume, light weight, so they are more difficult to beweighed. General weighing tools are difficult to accurately weighthe quality, but precise tools do not fit in outdoor weighing. So how
to the solve the problem properly is still in discussion.
——Even within professional institutions and societies, there arealso some operational problems.
Before the start of the project, Shanghai Rendu has conducted strict
check and selection of monitoring institutions. It can be said that the
selected monitoring institutions are relatively professional andveteran professional organizations and voluntary associations arehighly reliable. However, after the training, there were still many
problems in the actual operation, such as dividing the sample area,——Combine the public version of beach clean-up activities with
scientific research and monitoring activities, develop natural
education of junior high school students and college students.
——The project received more attention. Some activities carriedout by individual institution were reported by local media. And webelieve that with the project's official website, more and more
people will be able to have access to Coastal clean-up andmonitoring project in China.
In addition, all research and monitoring activities carried out by
the Coastal clean-up and monitoring project in China are open
source and shared. If you want to check the monitoring data or
consult related issues, you can visit the official website of Coastal
clean-up and monitoring project at www.ccmc.org.cn.
We hope to promote marine environmental protection under our
joint efforts, and return a clean sea.

ICC card filling, garbage classification, weighing and so on.

11 _Nov.2015.Vol.6(1)ACTIVITIES
5. Distant Shorelines Offer Help
By Kate Le Souef, Tsunami debris cleanup coordinator for Vancouver Aquarium and WWF’s Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup
Kate.LeSouef@vanaqua.org

Recommended Citation:

Le Souef, Kate. (2015). Distant Shorelines Offer Help. Marine Litter News from East Asia Civil Forum on
Marine Litter, Vol. 6(1): 12-13.

Attendants and staffs of the symposium at Yuriage Maple Pavilion, Yuriage City, Sendai Prefecture, JapanAs the tsunami debris cleanup coordinator at the Vancouver

town in Japan that was almost completely destroyed by the tsunami.

Aquarium Marine Science Centre, I have spoken a great deal about

Survivors and residents from surrounding areas came to the event to

the 2011 Japanese tsunami. I have hosted lectures and events

hear about our cleanups.

explaining why we find Japanese items on the beaches of British
Columbia and discussed when scientists predicted driftage from thetsunami to arrive.

The Government of Japan donated millions to the U.S .andCanada to support the cleanup of tsunami driftage on our western
coastlines. Even though the majority of debris on our shorelines

However, it wasn’t until I actually visited Japan, on a recent trip

comes from everyday litter and not tsunamis, one resident fromsupported by the Japanese non-profit JEAN, that the importance of

Yuriage apologized to the attendants from North America, saying:

shoreline cleanups in B.C. really hit me. I was speaking about our“We were embarrassed that our debris was washing ashore in

remote beach cleanups at a public event in Yuriage, a small fishing

North America.”

Marine Litter News_ 12

As I spoke about our cleanups, I saw children, elderly people andgovernment representatives in the audience, and I realized the
donation to North America was much more than just generosity.
Thousands of Japanese people lost loved ones and all theirpossessions to the tsunami. One man we met had lost 14 family
members along with all of his belongings. Looking at the faces in
the crowd, I saw a glimmer of hope that a memento from their loved
ones might have survived the journey across the ocean to our shores.
Personal items can provide a link to the past, a connection withsomeone who did not survive this disaster.

On our remote shoreline cleanups numerous items have been

Audiences listening to the speaker at the symposium

identified as coming from Japan, although not many with ID
markings. The donation from the Japanese government helps to fundthese cleanups and provides a way for Canadians to collect andreturn personal items to survivors who already lost so much. Afterseeing the faces in the crowd, I now appreciate the immense power
in returning items from a lost loved one.

Kate Le Souef, tsunami debris cleanup coordinator for Vancouver Aquarium and WWF’s Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, presented by Loblaw Companies Limited, travelled to Japanto learn more about the impact of tsunami debris. This trip w
as generously provided by the Japanese Environmental Action
Network. Visit www.shorelinecleanup.ca/tsunami to learn more.

Container from Japan washed up on a beach, Canada

13 _Nov.2015.Vol.6(1)ACTIVITIES
6. Okinawa organizations visited Taiwan and helped out with beach cleanup
By Joint reporters of Taiwan Environmental Information Center
linlittlep@e-info.org.tw

Recommended Citation:

Taiwan Environmental Information Center. (2015). Okinawa organizations visited Taiwan and helped out withbeach clean-up. Marine Litter News from East Asia Civil Forum on Marine Litter, Vol. 6(1): 14-15.

Joint event of Okinawa County of Japan and New Taipei City of Taiwan

The “Okinawa - Taiwan Marine debris Strategies Exchange”
workshop was held in Taiwan this year. Last year, several TaiwaneseMarine debris drifting from other countries causes trouble in
Okinawa

official and civil organizations visited Okinawa, Japan. In return,organizations from Okinawa were invited to Taiwan in January to

The workshop brought together both government officials andhear about how marine debris issues are dealt with here, and to

civil representatives. Both the Department of Environmental andparticipate in a beach cleaning activity.

Community Affairs of Okinawa Prefecture and Environmental
Protection Department of New Taipei City had representatives

Okinawa County and New Taipei City announced theirpresented.

ElevenJapanese

non-governmentalorganizations

cooperation agreement on the 25th of January, with the slogan

attended the meeting; along with many Taiwanese groups, such as"Okinawa - Taiwan; No Distance in Loving Our Ocean". With the

National Museum of Marine Science and Technology; Taiwan

joint efforts from both cities, they hope to make the Kuroshio

Environmental Information Association, The Society of Wilderness,

Current clean again.

Marine Litter News_ 14

and Kuroshio Ocean Education Foundation. The representatives

beach clean up activity for the Japanese representatives to witness

shared and discussed their experiences during the three-day longthe marine debris problem in Taiwan. There were also around 50

workshop.

student volunteers participating in this activity.

New Taipei City has collaborated with eight companies, asked
them to adopt certain parts of the north coast and clean it up 3-4
times a year.

The chief secretary of the Environmental Protection

Department also mentioned that people usually collected plastic
bottles for sale but not the lids. If the manufacturer can develop aplastic bottle that is all in one piece, it should greatly reduce therecycling problem.

Hiroki Aragaki from Division of Environment Waste, Okinawa
Prefectural Department of Environmental Affair, pointed out that
Workshop held in Okinawa County

there are no significant differences between the types of marine
debris in Taiwan and Japan. However he was particularly impressed

One of the biggest problems Okinawa is facing is “marine debris
drifting from other countries”. The local survey showed thatwith the interaction between participants and how people enjoyedcleaning beaches.

majority of this waste came from countries including China, South
Korea and Taiwan.
The majority of marine debris drifting to Taiwan is plastic;

No Distance in Loving Our Ocean, Taiwan and Japan will work
together in hope to bring back the clean Kuroshio Current

however, this waste seems to come from different countries shownin the Okinawa survey. Japanese groups suggested to exchange
information about these marine debris for further studies.

Officials from both Okinawa Prefecture and New Taipei City
announced the collaboration agreement on the last day of theRegarding how to improve ocean health and to tackle the marine

workshop. Non-governmental organizations also suggested many

debris issues, representatives from both countries agreed thatpractical action plans. The participants also worked together toenvironmental education rooted from childhood is essential.

create a slogan "Okinawa - Taiwan; No Distance in Loving Our

Hidefumi Toma，head of Okinawa Prefectural Department of

Ocean".
Hidefumi Toma, head of Okinawa Prefectural Department ofEnvironmental Affair, suggested establishing a platform for teachingmaterial exchange. There is information available on the New Taipei
City Environmental Protection Department website, for bothteachers and students.

Environmental Affair, said that marine debris will not disappear injust a few days. Therefore, the two cities should carry on
communicating and collaborating with each other. In response to Mr
Toma’s comment, Li-shu Chen, Director of Education, National
Museum of Marine Science and Technology also said that the

Clean up the beach and bring people together

Taiwanese organizations look forward to more cooperation to reduce
marine debris, enhance ocean education and to bring back the clean

Taiwan Environmental Information Association also arranged a

Kuroshio current.

15 _Nov.2015.Vol.6(1)ACTIVITIES
7. NGO activities to deal with marine litter in the Russian Far East
By Yana Blinovskaya, Head of environmental protection department Maritime State University, Vladivostok, Russia
Blinovskaya@hotmail.com

Recommended Citation:

Blinovskaya, Yana. (2015). NGO activities to deal with marine litter in the Russian Far East. Marine Litter
News from East Asia Civil Forum on Marine Litter, Vol. 6(1): 16-19.

Relation of men to nature during development of the civilization

Environmental pollution with industrial and consumption wastes

was characterized by unilateral, consumptive nature. Finally, it

is impending during nature management process. This problem isresulted in a global environmental crisis. Only by the end of the lastclearly displayed in border areas characterized by high population,

century did caring for nature become a priority in the global

industry and biological community density.

community development. An important mechanism of formation ofenvironmentally oriented personality is its active involvement into

It is evident that the marine litter issue is a reality for all maritime

nature protection activities and environmental education. In thiscountries. During the events organized by Regional Activity Center,

relation, importance and desirability of social environmental

Northwest Pacific Action Plan (NOWPAP RCU) we discussed thiscommunities is increasing, among other initiatives implementing theissue, shared our experience, decisions were made on varioustasksadministrative and social levels, and now we can see some results ofofenvironmental

educationandcooperation

governmental authorities and scientific and industrial structures.

withthese activities.

Fig 1. Vladivostok coastal area

Marine Litter News_ 16

It is evident that marine litter has a considerable negative impact

Since 2001, Far Eastern Department of World Wild Fond carried out

on social-economic and environmental spheres. Experts in various‘Clean Seashore’ activities. The main goals of these activities aresectors developed guidelines on collection and recycling of marine

to unite people worrying about environmental protection and tolitter, as well as assessment of losses from its impact.

clarify to the tourists the principle ‘don’t hurt the nature’.

As marine litter has a broad impact, these were public

Supporting environmental actions and involving the students ofenvironmental organizations that first drew society’s attention to thethe region, large companies such as the ‘Coca-cola’, ‘Baltica’,problem. One of the most illustrative decisions in the solving of‘Coolmart’ and ‘Exxon Neftegaz Ltd’ show ecological-oriented

marine litter problem is organization of coastal cleanup campaigns.

approach to their activity. They consider that it is impossible toAs of now, the campaigns have become international, inspiring more

stand aside the problem of environmental protection and give a leadthan 9 million volunteers from over 150 countries annually.

of responsible treatment of coastal area.

The problem of marine litter pollution is apparent for the Far East

During the past 7 years, the students and staff of the Institute of of

of Russian Federation as well (Fig. 1). But on the contrary to

Sea Protection and Shelf Development, Maritime State University

neighboring countries, the basic source of pollution is recreational

named aster adm. G.I. Nevelskoy take their part in coastal area

activity. Coastal cleanups carried out by public environmental

cleaning (Fig 2). The geography of these actions expands

organizations became the tradition as well. Thus, in the Internationalsignificantly (Fig. 3). They cover most popular recreation sites in

Cleanup Day in early June, divers of Primorye open the season with

Vladivostok, Hasansky, Nadezhdinsky, Shkotovsky, Partizansky,

bottom cleanup in several sites around Vladivostok (traditionally

Olginslky,

these are Fedorova Bay, Muravinnaya Bay, Zmeinka, and Russky

organizations, and authorities are always involved in these activities.

Terneisky

and

other

districts.

Students,socialisland). During 10 years of such activities the increase of public
activity and decrease of litter is observed.

Fig 2. Institute of sea protection and shelf development practical research

17 _Nov.2015.Vol.6(1)ACTIVITIES
Moreover, Russian initiative groups and organizations joined ininternational project ‘Let’s Do It!’, working by the principle‘community initiative’. Based on successful volunteers action
experience which took place in Russia (‘500 cleanups a day’,‘Bloggers are against garbage’) and abroad (‘Let’s Do It’), theactivists of the movement, that 83 Federation Subject have joined to,will clean up different territories of Russia, including coastal areas.

The campaign «Let’s Do It!» also unites millions of people. This
project provides for better interaction among population, businessand national authorities on all levels to form mutual understandingFig 3. Monitoring sites in Primorsky region (Russian Far East)of waste treatment problem and further search of an efficientdecision.

The main goals of these activities are coastal cleanups,
environmental education and scientific research of the pollution.
Thus, gathered wastes are divided into categories according to their
qualitative composition and analyzed by type and groups, that
determine the pollution source, trace the dynamic of pollution inorder to propose preventive measures.

In Vladivostok such an event was carried out for the firsttime on 15 September 2012 supported by the Institute of of Sea
Protection

and

Shelf

Development

andVladivostok

city

Administration. «Let’s Do It!» campaign will be held on 15
September in all entities of the Russian Federation. «Let's do it”
project in Russia was pursuing a colossal goal – to collect tons ofillegally disposed garbage (to submit glass, plastic bottles and metal
to recycling), to draw public attention to the problem of waste in the

In consideration of modern informatization and popularity ofsocial networks, the using of Internet resources provide prompt
communication between various social and age groups.

environment and to the issue of recycling, to promote cooperation
between authorities and public organizations. Remaining dump sites
should be considered illegal (http://ecofront.ru). Approximately 100
participants collected thousands tons of litter on shores of Russky

Thus, in 2011 bloggers initiated action ‘Bloggers are against

Island and Vladivostok city.

garbage’. Due to prompt actions of internet community more than
16,000 people from 120 cities of Russia took part in the event. This
number is more than double higher than planned. Bloggers cleaned
the Russian Island coastal area from tires, plastics and glass. It’s
noticeable that many participants met there for the first time. The
action united people of different age, occupation, and political sights
just because of a common idea to make the coastal area cleaner.

Russian divers also became very active. Every International
Cleanup Day for 5 years, participants of several Primorsky diving
clubs join together to hold a marine litter pick. This year divers
extended their pick area, traditionally cleaning Fedorova Bay andPatroclus Bay, as well as Paris Bay on Russky Island. This area ischosen by divers intentionally. In the past there was a naval
destroyer base, and now Vladivostok aquarium and rehabilitation

The event was successful and it was decided to be repeated in2012 and 2013. On 14 September 2013 the bloggers joined the allRussian cleanup campaign again.

The event united 50,000 people

from 200 Russian cities who collected over 500 tons of litter. In
Vladivostok Patroclus Bay, Vtoraya Rechka Bay and Russky Island
were cleaned.

Marine Litter News_ 18

constrains for marine animals are installed there. The bottom ofParis Bay is heavily littered, and it might take several more cleanups
to get rid of the problem. Every year an increasing number ofvolunteers join the cleanup campaigns. In 2012 only 14 divers tookof the most polluted water area in the Far East.

The event was

supported by the head of Vladivostok city. The participants collected
over 10 tons from the surface and bottom of the bay. All littercollected was transported to a waste recycling plant in Vladivostok.
Plastic litter predominated among other litter items; car tires andbulky construction litter was also present.

Similar picks were organized in Nakhodka city district and manyother inhabited localities of the Far East.

The Regular International Coastal Cleanup campaign was carriedout in several sites of Russian Far East in the last weekend of
Fig 4. ICC dynamics: 2007 – 2014

September and in early October. As well as in 2012, the event was
carried out synchronously with “Nature Without Border” anpart in the event, and in 2013 their number was over 50. One moreinternational environmental forum which was held for the seventh

similar event took place in Novik Bay. Also around 50 volunteers

time in Vladivostok. Participants of the cleanup who cleaned

joined the cleanup there.

Fedorova Bay and Muraviinaya Bay collected around 300 kg oflitter. Schoolchildren of Primorsky Krai settlements (Tavrichanka,

Russky Island coast is very popular after 2012 APEC summit, that

Possiet, and Olga) traditionally took part there. In the near future theis why a lot of environmental actions are held there. Under support

obtained data will be processed and sent to Ocean Conservancy andby Vladivostok city administration divers from «DivePrim» club

RCU NOWPAP.

cleaned the bottom of Rancheskiy Bay. 70 divers collected several
tons of litter; the most unusual object among the litter was amouthpiece.

Since 2009, ICC geography in the Far East of Russia began toextend. The number of participants also increased. By now, ICC isregularly conducted on 18 coastal sites of Primorsky Krai. It is

In late August 2013 all-Russian litter pick “Green Russia” wasnecessary to notice that a positive trend is marked in the condition

held. On the Coast of Morskoy Gorodok, one of districts ofof the beach areas actively used for recreation. The litter is removed

Vladivostok city, was cleaned by the citizens. As a result, 6,000 tons

by beach tenants, and garbage bins are located everywhere (Fig. 4).

of litter was collected. In the pick, along with environmentallyoriented publicity and volunteers, participated workers of Primorsky

In the areas removed from places of recreation the situation

HydroMetCenter, Rosprirodnadzor (Federal Service for Supervision

practically did not change. In remote and open areas theof Natural Resource Usage), Vladivostok Administration and theconsiderable quantity of litter is brought by the sea, and plastic

Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of Russian Federation

prevails among it

Sergey Donskoy who arrived to Vladivostok on a business trip.
Communities are different in targets and scale, there is no doubt
The litter pick also embraced a cleanup of the Golden Horn Bay.

that personal example of careful treatment to the environment is

Owners of boats and yachts, students, and representatives of publicable to change someone’s mind about selfish treatment to nature andorganizations, equipped with necessary tools, carried out a cleanup

encourage development of civil consciousness.

19 _Nov.2015.Vol.6(1)RESEARCHES
8. Human efforts have reduced wild birds' exposure to marine debris: A
case in Korea
By Yong Chang Jang, Korea Marine Litter Institute, researcher of OSEAN,
yongchangjang@hotmail.com
Recommended Citation:

Jang, Yong Chang. (2015). Human efforts have reduced wild birds' exposure to marine debris: A case in Korea.
Marine Litter News from East Asia Civil Forum on Marine Litter, Vol. 6(1): 20-21.

It was found that human efforts have reduced wild birds' exposure

natural nest materials to breeding islet of Black-faced Spoonbills, a

to marine debris. Dr. Kisup Lee of Korea Water Birds Network andcritically endangered species with its worldwide population of only

researchers at Our Sea of East Asia Network did the protective

around 3,000. The authors found out that such activities reduced

action, recorded the beneficial influence, and reported the result as asignificantly the ratio of nests with marine debris from 71% in 2010

scientific journal paper.

to 37% in 2011 and 32% in 2012. The number of nests also
increased during the same period from 28 to 38 and 43.

Lee, K. Jang, Y.C., Hong, S., Lee, J., Kwon, I.K. (2015). Plastic
Marine Debris Used as Nesting Materials of the Endangered Species

The result invites us to make more effort to protect these beautiful

Black-Faced Spoonbill Platalea minor Decreases by Conservation

birds. As most of the Black-faced Spoonbills breed in the western

Activities. Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment

coast of Korea, making a clean environment in this area is the key

and Energy, 18(1): 45-49.

issue for this endangered species of birds. Our Sea of East Asia
Network will continue these activities of protecting wildlife fromThe survey was accompanied by protective activities of providing

marine debris.

Fig. 1. The Black-faced Spoonbills © Namjun Ji

Marine Litter News_ 20

Fig. 2. Black-faced Spoonbills in their breeding islet (a). The plastic marine debris in their habitat in 2010 (b)was reduced in 2011 by the human efforts of providing natural materials (c) (Lee et al., 2015).

21 _Nov.2015.Vol.6(1)Guidelines for Authors
Dear authors of ‘Marine Litter News from East Asia Civil Forum on Marine Litter,’Thank you for preparing your valuable manuscript for our journal. We welcome articles regarding researches, education, policies, andany other activities on marine litter issues from the globe. To make your article more easily understandable to readers around theworld, please pay attention to the following guidelines.
1. Composition of Articles(1) Title-Please make it concise and understandable.
-Including the name of the relevant country is recommended.
(2) Name of the author-The author should be natural persons even when writing articles representing organizations.
-Name of organization, author’s position, and email address should be included(3) Figure, Map, or Table-Figures, maps, or tables are recommended to be included in articles.
-Especially maps showing the geographical context of the article is strongly recommended.
-Each figure, map, and table should have captions explaining the figures, maps, and tables.
(4) References-Referencing other texts for explaining the situation is recommended.
-All the lists of documents referenced needs to be included.
2. Submission, Acceptance, and Edition-Anybody from around the world can submit the articles via email(loveseakorea@empas.com).
-As the journal is published at the end of May and November, draft articles need to be submitted by the end of April and October.
-All the articles which have basic quality will be accepted.
-The editor may ask some revision of the draft to make the article more easily understandable to readers.
3. Publication fee-There is no publication fee to be paid by authors to us or by us to authors.

Thank you for your cooperation,
Sunwook Hong, the editor.

Marine Litter News_ 22

What is East Asia Civil Forum on Marine Litter?
East Asia Civil Forum on Marine Litter is a network
established in 2009, made of NGO groups dedicated toprotection of marine environment from marine litter in east
Asia countries.
Network member groups are:Japan: Japan Environmental Action Network (JEAN)
South Korea: Our Sea of East Asia Network (OSEAN)
Taiwan: Taiwan Ocean Cleanup Alliance (TOCA)
Shanghai Rendu Ocean NPO Development Centeran ‘East Asian Civil Forum on Marine Litter’ through which

To the readers,

relevant NGOs and organizations in the East Asia could shareotherexperiences and information and work together on the marine

environmentally, geographically, historically, or culturally

debris problems. OSEAN and JEAN have reached a consensus

through shared regional seas. The East Asian region is one of theto launch the forum and publish biannual newsletters. So wemost dynamic economic centers with some of the busiest

have launched the East Asian Civil Forum on Marine Litter andshipping lanes in the world. With the spread of mass production

we are delivering marine debris news from member countries via

and consumption over the last decades came the huge increase ine-mail to people who are concerned with this problem on local,

solid waste generation. There are, however, not enough waste

national, and regional levels. In late 2012 now, we have four

treatment facilities and management measures, which makes themembers above. We hope that the forum could provide a venue

region vulnerable to marine debris pollution.

for all of us to share our vision, experiences, and creative

East

Asian

countries

areconnected

to

each

actions.
Entering the seas in large amounts, floating debris has becomea source of concerns and conflicts among some neighboring

This is the first effort to link the East Asian people beyond

countries. This transboundary environmental problem requires

geographical and language barriers to a common goal ofconcerted efforts of all the relevant stakeholders beyond sectoral

protecting our seas from marine debris pollution. NGOs andand political boundaries. In this regard, OSEAN (Our Sea oforganizations that have interests and passion to make our seas

East Asia Network) and JEAN (Japan Environmental Action

clean and healthy are more than welcome to join us. For more

Network), the marine debris NGOs in Korea and Japan, haveinformation, you can contact us at loveseakorea@empas.com.

shared a vision in which people in the East Asia could act

Please let us know if you have any problem in receiving thetogether as one community in protecting our precious marine

newsletter. These articles are also available online at

ecosystems. We believe that NGOs in the East Asian countries

http://cafe.naver.com/osean.

have an important role in sharing experiences and acting
together to address the marine debris issue in the region from theSecretariat,

bottom up.

Sunwook Hong (OSEAN) and Kojima Azusa (JEAN)
The city governments of Shimonoseki and Nagato, and JEAN
co-organized‘2009

MarineLitterSummit-Shimonoseki•Nagato Meeting’ on October 16-18, 2009, in
Shimonoseki, Japan. OSEAN suggested in the meeting to start
23 _Nov.2015.Vol.6(1)Recommended Citation for the whole volume:
Hong, Sunwook. (2015). Marine Litter News from East Asia Civil Forum on Marine Litter, Our Sea of East Asia Network,
Vol. 6(1): 24pp, Tongyeong, South Korea.

Contacts
Japan Environmental Action Network (JEAN)
202, Mansion SOPHIA,
3-4-12, Minami-Cho, Kokubunji-Shi, Tokyo, Japan
URL http://www.jean.jp

E-mail Cleanup@jean.jp

TEL +81-42-322-0712

FAX +81-42-324-8252

Our Sea of East Asia Network (OSEAN)
717, Leadersvill, 23-96, Jukrim 4ro, Tongyeong, Gyeongnam, 650-826, South Korea
URL http://cafe.naver.com/osean
TEL +82-55-649-5224

E-mail loveseakorea@empas.com

FAX +82-303-0001-4478

Taiwan Ocean Cleanup Alliance (TOCA)
97057, No.87, Fuyang Rd., Hualien City, Hualien County, Taiwan
URL http:// www.icctaiwan.org.tw
TEL +886-3-857-8148

E-mail kuroshio@seed.net.tw

FAX +886-3-857-8948

Shanghai Rendu Ocean NPO Development Center
Room 222, Building C, No.633, Eshan Rd, Shanghai, China, Zip Code 200127
URL http://www.jintan.org
E-mail liuyonglun@163.com
TEL +86-21-61762119

Marine Litter News from East Asia Civil Forum on Marine Litteris published two times a year by civil groups in east asia countries.

Editor: Sunwook Hong, Ph. D., President of OSEAN
Postal Address: 717, 23-96, Jukrim 4ro, Gwangdo, Tongyeong, Gyeongmam, 650-826, South Korea
E-mail: loveseakorea@empas.com

WeNews_truly 24
thank Ms. Jessie Blackledge and Mr. Kneath Heard for English proofreading of this newsletter.
Marine※Litter