• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.58-66
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• 2005

Floating debris was observed using a training ship, KAYA, of Pukyong National University with cruising speed of about 10-12 knot during July 12~25, 2003. The area sampled was the East Sea enclosed by 3 nations, namely, Korea, Japan and Russia, and was divided into 68 unit segments on survey routes [Fig. 1]. Debris fabrication materials were categorized with 6 items, e.g., man-made or natural wood items, paper and cardboard, nylon rope, styrofoam, vinyl and plastic, floating metal and glass containers. All identified items within $100{\pm}10 m$ wide band were recorded but ignored if beyond this boundary. The results of this study are as follows: 1. The average numbers of debris per unit area, $1km^2$, were found as 16.3 pieces (items) in the sea. 2. The highest densities of numbers, $32.3pieces/km^2$, were discovered in vicinity of the Oki strait of Japan, area of 'NEK' in Fig. 1. 3. Especially, styrofoam item only was composed to 63.6% of all in the sea of 'SD', located in the southern part of Dokdo Island, Korea. The item seems to be derive from the Southern Sea of Korea. 4. Therefore, comparing the distribution of debris numbers (the results of above 2 and 3) with flow patterns of Kuroshio currents, it was shown that their relation was good agree each other. Further more surveys are being conducted and a much wider coverage can be achieved with other countries, then it can be obtained that the East Sea is polluted to some extent, where is the origin of debris, and the finding of floating routes and stationary sea.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.125-137
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• 2023

In marine environments, plastics have become more abundant due to increasing plastic use. Especially, in coastal regions, particles may remain for a long time, and they interact with flows, wind, sand and human activities. This study aimed thus to observe how plastic debris interacts with and escape from sediments. A series of experiments were conducted in order to gain a better understanding of particle release from coastal sediments into water body. An oscillating water tunnel was built for the experiments, and used to generate oscillatory flows of relatively high Reynolds number and induce sediment transport. Spherical plastic particles of three different sizes was used in lieu of plastic debris in environments. It was observed that release of the particles was directly related to change of bedform, which is in turn determined by the flow condition. Also smaller particles tend to escape the sediment more readily. Critical values for dimensionless parameters are proposed.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.443-458
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• 2016

Ten new species of genus Sarcotragus (Demospongiae: Dictyoceratida: Irciniidae) are described from Geomundo Island and Jejudo Island, Korea. All new species of the Sarcotragus are distinguished from the other reported species of Sarcotragus by the skeletal structure, especially fasciculate primary fibres. The characters of genus Sarcotragus have cylindrical primary fascicles filled with wads of filaments or flattened fascicles. All of the primary fibres are not cored with foreign debris. Secondary fibres have slightly fasciculate branch or plastic-like web. They are all not cored with foreign debris. All skeletal fibres are very irregular. The surface is covered with loose or tight filamentous membrane.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.6_2
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• pp.1643-1652
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• 2022

Deposited Marine Debris(DMD) can negatively affect marine ecosystems, fishery resources, and maritime safety and is mainly detected by sonar sensors, lifting frames, and divers. Considering the limitation of cost and time, recent efforts are being made by integrating underwater images and artificial intelligence (AI). We conducted a comparative study of You Only Look Once Version 5 (YOLOv5) and You Only Look Once Version 7 (YOLOv7) models to detect DMD from underwater images for more accurate and efficient management of DMD. For the detection of the DMD objects such as glass, metal, fish traps, tires, wood, and plastic, the two models showed a performance of over 0.85 in terms of Mean Average Precision (mAP@0.5). A more objective evaluation and an improvement of the models are expected with the construction of an extensive image database.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.15-26
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• 2020

Purpose: This study is to analyze the image classification using Convolution Neural Network and Transfer Learning for Jeju Island and to suggest related implications. As the biggest tourist destination in Korea, Jeju Island encounters environmental issues frequently caused by marine debris along the seaside. The ever-increasing volume of plastic waste requires multidirectional management and protection. Research design, data and methodology: In this study, the deep learning CNN algorithm was used to train a number of images from Jeju clean and polluted beaches. In the process of validating and testing pre-processed images, we attempted to explore their applicability to coastal tourism applications through probabilities of classifying images and predicting clean shores. Results: We transformed and augmented 194 small image dataset into 3,880 image data. The results of the pre-trained test set were 85%, 70% and 86%, and then its accuracy has increased through the process. We finally obtained a rapid convergence of 97.73% and 100% (20/20) in the actual training and validation sets. Conclusions: The tested algorithms are expected to implement in applications for tourism service distribution aimed at reducing coastal waste or in CCTVs as a detector or indicator for residents and tourists to protect clean beaches on Jeju Island.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.38 no.5_3
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• pp.835-850
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• 2022

Microplastics have arisen as a worldwide environmental concern, becoming ubiquitous in all marine compartments, and various researches on monitoring marine microplastics are being actively conducted worldwide. Recently, application of a remote detection technology that enables large-scale real-time observation to marine plastic monitoring has been conducted overseas. However, in South Korea, there is little information linking remote detection to marine microplastics and some field studies have demonstrated remote detection of medium- and large-sized marine plastics. This study introduces research cases with remote detection of marine plastics in South Korea and overseas, investigates potential feasibility of using the remote detection technology to marine microplastic monitoring, and suggests some future works to monitor marine microplastics with the remote detection.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.220-226
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• 2005

This study evaluated the composition and distribution of marine litters on the sea-bed of the East China Sea. Surveys have been conducted by a benthic trawlnet of Dong-baek training ship of Yosu national university during the cruise of 2002-2004. Distribution density showed high value in C5 (north-western area of Jeju Island) with $110.3kg/km^2$ and those of annual mean were about $31-43kg/km^2$. Fishing gears such as nets, pots, octopus jars and etc. were about 42-72% of debris collected in the East China Sea. Composition ratio of rubber, vinyl. metal, plastic, glass, wood, cloth and etc. were within 25% except C5. Rope and drum showed strong fluctuations with 0-30% according to the trawling sites. Some vinyls and nets made in Korea, China and Japan were much collected. It is estimated that fishing gears were discarded to the sea by fishing operation, deliberately or not. An comprehensive program including continuous research, monitoring for marine litters in the Korean sea were necessary.