• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.104-115
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• 2014

Abundance and composition of marine debris on 13 beaches of Tongyeong City, South Korea were surveyed in 2013 Autumn. The average quantity of macro debris (>25 mm) was about 30 particle/$m^2$ and that of micro debris (1 mm-25 mm) was about 26,971 particle/$m^2$. This is a very high level compared with other areas of South Korea and the other countries. Among the 7 material types of debris (styrofoam, hard plastic, fiber, metal, glass, wood and others), styrofoam composed a large portion: 75% of macro debris and 98% of micro debris. And among the 'whole' styrofoam debris items whose original volume is remained more than 50%, styrofoam buoy debris composed 93%. This result suggests that the beaches surveyed are seriously contaminated by marine debris, and most of its sources are aquaculture styrofoam buoys. Management of styrofoam buoy debris used for oyster aquaculture in Tongyeong City is important not only for Tongyeong city, but also for other areas, because Tongyeong city hosts the biggest number of oyster aquaculture areas in South Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.263-273
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• 2015

We estimated the global inflow and stock of plastic marine debris. In South Korea, we estimated that the annual inflow of plastic marine debris (72,956 tons) was about 1.4% of annual plastics consumption (5.2 million tons) in 2012. By applying this 1.4% ratio to global plastics production from 1950 to 2013, we estimated that 4.2 million tons of plastic debris entered the ocean in 2013 and that there is a stock of 86 million tons of plastic marine debris as of the end of 2013, assuming zero outflow. In addition, with a logistic model, if 4% of petroleum is turned into plastics, the final stock of plastic marine debris shall be 199 million tons at the end. As the inflow and the stock are different units of measurement, better indicators to assess the effectiveness of inflow-reducing policies are needed. And, as the pollution from plastic marine debris is almost irreversible, countermeasures to prevent it should be valued more, and stronger preventive measures should be taken under the precautionary principle. As this is a preliminary study based on limited information, further research is needed to clarify the tendency of inflow and stock of plastic marine debris.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.45-49
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• 2015

Disturbance to marine wildlife is a serious negative impact of marine debris. In this study, the percentages of Black-faced Spoonbill nests that included plastic marine debris were calculated from surveys conducted on an islet named Suhaam off the western coast of South Korea. The percentages of nests including plastic decreased from 71% in 2010 to 37% in 2011 to 33% in 2012. The total number of nests increased from 28 in 2010 to 38 in 2011 to 43 in 2012. These differences in nests and nesting materials were possibly due to natural nesting materials such as tree branches and rice straws that were provided at the breeding site as a protective action in 2011 and 2012. Additional conservation efforts should be made to prevent further negative impacts from marine debris.

• Proceedings of KOSOMES biannual meeting
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• 2017.04a
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• pp.157-157
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• 2017

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.47-62
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• 2001

An experimental study was peformed to provide the numerical models to predict the physical fate of marine debris with the key information concerning their trifling and sinkage on the sea. For hygroscopic materials their floating times in a pseudo ocean environment were measured, and for non-hygroscopic objects their drifting limes in a certain wave condition were measured. For sinking materials or objects became to be sinkable free falling experiment was performed to evaluate their falling speed. Summarized information was condensed into a numerical model to predict the most possible region of a significant marine debris accumulation, and the seas connected to the Han river and the Nak-Dong river were considered for the simulation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.906-917
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• 2022

This study aimed to compare differences according to categories of fishery and marine environmental policies for the (estimated) amount of fishery waste generated by fishing, and to analyze the correlation between associated independent and dependent variables. The independent variables were divided into three dif erent sectors. The first sector included precautionary policies that observed eco-friendly fishing support program, institutional prevention activities, and physical barriers installation. The second sector with the current management policies included the relevant vessel operations, establishment of fishery order, fishery restructuring, and fishery ground clean-up. Thirdly, post-response policies comprised the litter purification from river to shoreline, the collection and removal of marine, sedimentary, and floating debris, purchasing salvaged debris generated while fishing, fishery waste disposal, and repairing damage caused by marine litter. The indicator used was the settlement amount by each program. The dependent variable was the estimated amount of fishery waste and the indicator was the sum of the loss of traps and gill nets and the loss of their appendages. According to the results of Kruskal-Wallis Test, the estimated amount of fishery waste was highest in the East Sea in terms of sea area and the highest in the Si(city) according to basic local municipality. The settlement amount related to the marine environment services was largest in the Gun(county). Further, there were significant differences between Gun(county) and the other regions(Si(city) and Gu(autonomous district)) with respect to most variables. The variables related to the estimated amount of fishery debris were the project purchasing salvaged debris generated while fishing and fishery waste disposal program in the post-response policies.

• Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.236-243
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• 2006

A series of surveys are performed to evaluate the abundance, composition and distribution of marine debris on the sea bed around the Busan port. In order to set up a master plan for the marine environmental pollution the relevant maritime authority must understand how many and w㏊t kinds of marine litters are distributed on the sea bed. At first we planed to survey areas divided regularly according to the coast line but there were many sea going vessels and fishing boats. So we selected and surveyed the around area where there were no sea going vessels or fishing boats.The obtained results are as follows: 1. The mean values of litters in number and weight are 5.8 pieces/㏊. and 3.5㎏/㏊. respectively. 2. The highest density in terms of number are vinyl and plastic item, and in weight are fishing gear and ship articles. 3. The nearer to the shore we surveyed the more we collected in terms of the density of marine litters in number and in weight per hectare. 4. Eel pot, oiled waste, rope, others, other pot and net of fishing gear litters in number were 59.9, 22.7, 7.9, 4.5, 3.1 and 1.9% respectively. 5. There is no relationship between the amount of fish caught and the amount of marine debris.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.307-314
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• 2011

This study proposed detection method of Marine debris using unmanned aerial photography. For unmanned aerial photography, a RC(Radio Control) helicopter which has good movability and economics was used. To a camera mounting, a gimbal equipment was attached to the bottom of the RC helicopter. The gimbal equipment is very useful because it is not seriously affected by vibration and rolling. In addition, we invented that digital image processing algorithm using Matlab program for detection of marine debris from photographs. Particularly, background subtraction in invented algorithm was applied. As a result, marine debris of a variety of forms from different sand states of coast were reliably detected. In the future, monitoring using proposed method was expected to contribute that the solution to representative problem of monitoring area selecting and estimate the total litter mass over the beach. Moreover, It is considered a greater application possibility to marine environmental observations.

• 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.