The NOWPAP- Tripartite Environmental Ministers Meeting (TEMM) Joint Workshop on Marine Litter Management, held in Busan’s Hotel Homers was jointly organized by NOWPAP and OSEAN with support from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea, the Korea Environment Management Corporation and the Busan Metropolitan City Government.
The workshop began with presentations on progress in dealing with marine litter in Japan, People’s Republic of China and Republic of Korea.
Dr. QingJia MENG, Associate Professor, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, made a presentation on progress in addressing marine litter in China.
Dr. Kanako SATO, Deputy Director, Ministry of Environment, Japan briefed workshop on progress in addressing marine litter in Japan, including Ministry of Environment-supported pilot project to estimate the “sampling error” by conducting simultaneous/parallel net-samplings of microplastics in different laboratories, including in four NOWPAP member states.
Mr. Woo Rak SUH of the Korea Marine Environment Corporation (KOEM) briefed the workshop on progress in addressing marine litter in the Republic of Korea, including the development of the “3rd National Marine Litter Management Plan (2019-2023)”, enforcement of marine litter-related policies and the establishment of management foundation for marine litter led by local stakeholders.
Mr. Nikolai KOZLOVSKII of NOWPAP POMRAC made a presentation on entitled “Rivers as a source of microplastic contamination of the marine environment. Current studies in the Russian Far East”. The study indicates that microplastics in the Russian coastal areas of the Far East originate in summer recreational litter, transboundary litter input with river runoff from land and fisheries and aquaculture, and litter from untreated local wastewater and municipal solid waste.
Dr. Sergey MONINETS, Director, Sea Protection Institute, Maritime State University, Russian Federation, made a presentation titled Results of the Year of Ecology in the Russian Federation. Central and local government’s efforts and concluded that marine pollution and marine litter is not seen as a high priority in the country in general.
A special session was devoted to the challenges of abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) in fisheries and aquaculture with a video presentation by Joanna Toole of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations on the development of best practice measures to reduce ALDFG and its impacts at the global level. The FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI) will consider the adoption of International Voluntary Guidelines on the Marking of Fishing Gear at its 9-13 July 2018 session at FAO headquarters in Rome.
Presentations were also made by Dr. Sunwook Hong, President of OSEAN on the findings of the 10-year Korea Marine Debris Monitoring Program on derelict fishing gears, and by Ms. Daria ZADOYA of the Maritime State University on Assessment of the risks of marine pollution from the fishing industry in the Russian Federation. Dr. Lev Neretin of NOWPAP RCU, briefed the workshop on UN Environment response to marine litter since the last NOWPAP-TEMM Workshop in 2017, including progress of activities of the Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML), the #CleanSeas Campaign and other activities, and the follow up to UN Environment Assembly (UNEA)-3 Resolutions.
Mr. Zhengguang ZHU of the Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem (YSLME) Project, introduced the YSLME Phase II Project titled “UNDP/GEF Implementing the Strategic Action Programme for the Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem: Restoring the Ecosystem Goods and Services and Consolidation of A Long-term Regional Environmental Governance Framework”.
Dr. Peter KERSHAW of GESAMP, made an online presentation on “Fisheries and aquaculture – an overlooked sector in the marine litter challenge?” which highlighted the costs of ALDFG to fisheries.
Ms. Marina SAKAI and Ms. Wandi HUANG of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) made a presentation titled “Promoting China-Japan-Korea Cooperation: Environment and Sustainable Development”.
Mr. Sang Soon MYUNG, Deputy Director, Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF), Republic of Korea, reported on progress in cooperation on marine litter within the TEMM framework.
Dr. Jongmyoung LEE, Chief Science Officer, OSEAN, made a presentation on civil society efforts to reduce the global impact of marine litter. Presentation were also made by Mr. Muntasir MAMUN of the NGO Kewkradong from Bangladesh on the fishing industry and abandoned fishing gear in his country and by Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu TRANG of the NGO GreenHub from Vietnam on local initiatives in her country to address marine litter in fisheries. Ms. Chieko AZUMA of the Japanese NGO, JEAN made a presentation on derelict oyster farming gear that are drifting from Hiroshima Bay, Japan to northwest Hawaii, United States of America.
The 2018 NOWPAP-TEMM Workshop was followed by a separate meeting of the NGO participants to share lessons learned and experiences in managing marine litter. They also discussed how NOWPAP could support civil society efforts in the region and beyond with best practices and knowledge-sharing.
