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Data and
Information on Marine and Coastal Environment
in the NOWPAP Region
(Last update: 2008-03-19) NOWPAP
Activities Since its establishment in 1994, NOWPAP is dealing
with marine environmental issues such as harmful algal blooms,
oils spills, atmospheric input of contaminants, etc. Since 2006, new
activity on sustainable management of marine litter has been
launched.
 DINRAC is responsible for implementation of NOWPAP/1
"Establishment of comprehensive database and information
management", to serves as a NOWPAP Clearing-House, providing
data and information about all NOWPAP-related activities and
eventually information about the state of marine environment in
the NOWPAP region.
NowpapDatabases
Several databases have been created by DINRAC from its related
activities as well as cooperated with other RACs. There are now:
DINRAC Regional Portal
 The
DINRAC Regional Portal serves
as a tool:
. to support process of creation and access of distributed
information resources (IR) by providers/contributors; The IRs
are sorted by the Countries, Main objects/categories, Main
sources of contaminants, Marine environment quality indicators
and Main Marine pollution characteristics.
. to give adequate form of their description in English;
. to develop and maintain new IR inventory and point
contact;
. to provide submission of the data and information to
users through links of the Website using Search mode by
different criteria.
The Portal also establishes links to NOWPAP Regional Activity
Centres (RACs) issues and activity searchable by Meetings,
Meetings Reports, National Reports, Publications, Specific
Projects, Data/Metadata Bases, Information Systems, Documents,
Links of RACs.
 Information about activities related to Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) and applications of Remote Sensing (RS) to marine environment monitoring could be found at CEARAC website
(cearac.nowpap.org). In addition to
National Reports and
Integrated Reports on HAB and RS, there are several databases and websites available:
HAB Reference Database
This Database has been established to provide useful information and reference materials (papers, reports, etc.) for researchers, government officials or public interested in n the NOWPAP region.
 The Database is expected to enhance better understanding and provide valuable information to the solution of the various HABs problem in the NOWPAP region. The Database can be searched by country, year, type of HAB, Category, Organism and
keywords. Presently 1140 references for
China, Japan, Korea and Russia have been included in the
Database.
Cochlodinium Homepage
Cochlodinium polykrikoides is a very small phytoplankton and invisible without a microscope, and it is well known red tide causative organism and sometimes caused mass mortality of fish in NOWPAP region. Therefore scientists in NOWPAP, China, Japan, Korea and Russia, decided to study the species cooperatively. This homepage provides basic information on this species to the public.
 Data and information at the Website:
- Biology:
morphology,
life cycle,
taxonomy,
distribution,
suitable condition
- redtide:
color,
occurrence,
damage,
expansion,
factor,
provision
- glossary
- links
- bibliography
Portal Site on Ocean RS
 Provides links to information and data on marine environmental monitoring by RS.
Such as: Remote
Sensing Technology Center of Japan (RESTEC),
Korea
Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI),
Center
for Regional Satellite Monitoring of Environment, Far Eastern
Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences,
etc. Data could be searched by:
- Country: China, Japan, Korea, Russia, US, Europe
- Application: Eutrophication, Oil spill, Dynamics
- Sensor: AMSR AMSR-E ASAR ATOVS AVHRR ...
- Keywords
Website on oil spill
monitoring by RS
 The website is the result of the collaborative work between CEARAC and POI,
Introduces various satellite RS techniques for monitoring oil spills.
Data and information on the Website:
- Background:
Introduction, Behaviour, Techniques, Satellites, References
- Research: Detection, Models, Special
issues
- Database:
Map, Metadata, Images
- Services:
Support, Glossary,
NW
Pacific, Ecosystems, Regulations
Marine Environmental Watch Project Homepage
 Developed by the Ministry of Environment Japan and CERRAC. Provides RS data such as Sea Surface Temperature and Chlorophyll-a concentration for marine environmental monitoring.
On the Website:
- Satellite Image Search: by period, cloud coverage, latitude-longitude.
- Data Process:
Documents for analyzing satellite data (Spatial tools are useful for analyzing downloaded binary image data)
list and links of software tools for imagery analysis
 As one of main outcomes of
MERRAC activities, the NOWPAP Regional Oil Spill Contingency Plan and its
relevant MoU have been developed and officially come into effect. The purpose of the Plan is to provide an operational mechanism for
mutual assistance through which the Member States will co-operate during major marine oil pollution incidents in the region. An information system in the NOWPAP region was established and continually updated, including a detail inventories of all the response equipments and institutions and experts involved into the Plan. Moreover, on order to provide related practical and technical guideline, specific projects related to oil spill prediction model, sensitivity mapping, oil dispersant, shoreline cleanup had been carry out.
Related data and information available at
MERRAC website:
The NOWPAP Regional Oil Spill Contingency Plan and
MOU
Regional Information System (Equipments List & Experts List)
List of Oil Spill Accidents
Sensitivity Mapping (MERRAC Technical
Report No.1, 2005)
Guideline for Shoreline Clean-up (MERRAC Technical Report No.2, 2005)
Guideline for the Use of Dispersants (MERRAC Technical Report No.3, 2005)
| 4. AD, RDI &
ICARM, SOMER |
 POMRAC
and DINRAC have cooperated on establishment of three databases - the Reference Database on Atmospheric
Deposition of Contaminants into the Marine and Coastal
Environment in NOWPAP Region (AD Reference Database) and the
Reference Database on River and Direct Inputs of Contaminants
into the Marine and Coastal Environment in NOWPAP Region (RDI
Reference Database), the Reference Database on
Integrated Coastal and River Basin Management in NOWPAP Region (ICARM
Reference Database). They could be accessed at
DINRAC website and have been
linked to
POMRAC website.
 The
NOWPAP activities related to marine litter have been initiated
since November 2005. The overall objective of the MALITA project
was to develop a NOWPAP Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter
(RAP MALI).
The first phase, called Marine Litter Activity (MALITA), has
been completed by the end of 2007. The second phase of NOWPAP
marine litter activities is the implementation of NOWPAP RAP
MALI that has been started in 2008. Some activities carried out
during the MALITA project will be continued during the RAP MALI
implementation.
The MALITA has been successfully implemented under the overall
responsibility of
the NOWPAP Regional Coordinating Unit
(RCU) in close cooperation with the UNEP Regional
Seas Programme, the four NOWPAP Regional Activity Centres and
the member states. NOWPAP marine litter activities has been
moving forward to the next phase in 2008 through the
implementation of RAP MALI that was developed as a major outcome
of MALITA.
The MALITA consisted of several components such as collection
and review of existing data and information on marine litter,
including legal aspects; organization of regional meetings and
workshops to share such information as well as to build common
understanding of the marine litter issue; development and
implementation of a long-term monitoring programme; development
of sectoral guidelines for the management of marine litter
focusing on fishing, shipping and tourism; and formulation of
awareness and education campaigns as well as approach to the
civil society, including private sector, NGOs and the general
public.
The
main outcomes of the MALITA
implementation:
.
NOWPAP marine litter database
and
a Regional Overview
.
a Regional Overview on Legal Instruments,
institutional Arrangements and Programmes
.
Monitoring guidelines for marine litter on
beaches and shorelines and
those on the seabed
.
sectoral guidelines for fishing,
shipping (commercial
shipping,
recreational activities and
passenger ships)
 and
tourism.
guidelines for improvement of port
reception facilities and services.
A booklet on recycling of plastic marine
litter
.
a variety of brochures, leaflets and
posters
. six marine litter workshops
In addition, four NOWPAP international coastal cleanup campaigns
were organized (one in each NOWPAP member state) with side
events such as workshops, NGO meetings and exhibitions.
Reference
materials on MALITA
Reference materials are listed and containing several categories
such as NOWPAP workshop proceedings, leaflets, sectoral
guidelines for shipping, fishing and tourism, general
information on marine litter including legal aspects, public
education, marine litter monitoring and port reception
facilities. |
