The 10th CEARAC Focal Points Meeting was held on the 17th and 18th of April 2012 in Toyama, Japan. 16 experts and authorities including the members of FPM, representatives of NOWPAP RCU and RACs, and others participated in the meeting.
At first, the Director of CEARAC reported the implementation and expenditure of CEARAC activities for the 2010-2011 biennium. One of the major projects in this biennium is assessing the eutrophication status. Using the NOWPAP Common Procedure which CEARAC developed in 2009, the eutrophication status in 5 sea areas (the Changjiang River Estuary and it adjacent area, the Northwest Kyushu area, Toyama Bay, Jinhae Bay and Peter the Great Bay) were assessed and the results were compared. In general, the areas close to the coast are more eutrophicated because of stronger impacts of anthropogenic activities. Each assessment result of the 5 areas is shown in the integrated report of the eutrophication status. Besides this report, two revisions of the integrated reports on harmful algal blooms (HABs) and ocean remote sensing (RS) were also developed.
Next, the workplan and budget for CEARAC activities for the 2012-2013 biennium were explained with the current progress of each activity. Specific projects for the current biennium are on (1) marine biodiversity (2) eutrophication, and (3) ocean remote sensing. CEARAC plans to develop a regional report for conservation of marine biodiversity and sustainable use of marine ecosystem services in the NOWPAP region, so, information of MPAs in each member state is being collected to analyze the monitoring and management status of them. On eutrophication, CEARAC has been improving some assessment parameters in the NOWPAP Common Procedure for another assessment in the existing and new marine areas.
Besides the activities to be implemented under the framework of CEARAC, there is one collaborative work planned to be implemented in the 2012-2013 biennium: development of the second “State of Marine Environmental Report for the NOWPAP Region” (SOMER-2). This activity has been conducted under the leadership of POMRAC and CEARAC and other RACs will take responsibilities for some chapters and/or sub-chapters depending on their expertise and experiences.
