Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation(KOEM) helds a workshop in Jeju island, Korea, June 17-18 to discuss ways to reduce and solve harmful marine Organisms such as jellyfish, Spartina anglica, and Sargassum horneri , which cause damage from mass outbreaks.
The "Korea, China, and YSLME Workshop on Harmful Marine Orgamisms" was co-hosted by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, KOEM, the National Oceanic Administration (SOA) of China, and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Yellow Sea Wide Area Marine Ecosystem Conservation Project (YSME), where about 50 experts from Korea and China attended to discuss the management of harmful marine life and conservation of the Yellow Sea.
KOEM has held a workshop of Korean and Chinese jellyfish experts annually since 2014 with Institute of Oceanology Chinese Academy of Sciences(IOCAS) to respond to Nomura's jellyfish, known as the origin of China. This year, the two countries shared the latest issues regarding harmful marine Organisms and focused on future cooperation based on scientific research.
In particular, Nomura's jellyfish and Spartina anglica are marine organisms that originate in China and enter the Korean coast through the Yellow Sea, disrupting the marine ecosystem and causing enormous damage to the fisheries industry. Thus, the problem of marine organisms of transboundary is effective in cooperating with international organizations that serve as intermediaries because the problem is unclear as to the extent of responsibility between countries and cannot be solved by the efforts of one country alone. As a result, KOEM is working with YSLME, which is a joint venture between South Korea and China, to push for the workshopt.
In the workshop, which will be the first of its kind for Korea and China to discuss the entire harmful marine organisms, the two countries will exchange scientific research results on the causes of harmful marine organisms and its pathways, and share damage status and countermeasures. With this opportunity, it is expected that the foundation for a joint cooperation system between the two countries will be strenthened for responding to harmful marine organisms
"We hope that through the Korea-China and YSLME Harmful Marine organisms Workshop, the two countries will strenthen their policies for management of harmful marine organisms and maintain close cooperation system, thus actively resolving the issue of the martime ecosystem of transboundary" said Seunggee Park, CEO of KOEM.
