The 8th NOWPAP CEARAC Focal Points Meeting and the Expert Meeting on Assessment of Eutrophication Status and Marine Environment Focusing on Marine Biodiversity were held on 13 and 15 of September 2010 in Toyama, Japan. 30 experts and authorities including the members of FPM, representatives of NOWPAP RCU and RACs and others, including experts on eutrophication and marine biodiversity, participated in the meetings.
During the FPM8, following the report of CEARAC activities for the 2008-2009 biennium, the workplan and budget for the 2010-2011 biennium were explained. Until the last biennium, CEARAC mainly conducted activities related to harmful algal blooms (HAB) and remote sensing (RS). However, in accordance with expansion of its scope of work, CEARAC implements activities focusing on marine biodiversity and eutrophication. Therefore, the new workplan includes activities on these issues as well as ones on HAB and RS: (1) development of the new marine environmental assessment method focusing on marine biodiversity, (2) implementation of the assessment of eutrophication status, (3) updating the Integrated Reports on HAB and Ocean Remote Sensing (published in 2005), and (4) organization of the 3rd training course on remote sensing data analysis. After review and discussion of each agenda item, all the reports presented were adopted with some modifications.
In accordance with the expansion of the scope of CEARAC’s working areas (eutrophication and marine biodiversity) from this biennium on, the Expert Meeting on Assessment of Eutrophication Status and Marine Environment Focusing on Marine Biodiversity back-to-back with FPM8 (14 September).
In the Expert Meeting, in addition to reports of interim results of eutrophication assessment by selected experts of the NOWPAP member states and introduction of a pilot study in Toyama Bay, there was more thorough discussion on the 2 activities: assessment of eutrophication status and development of the new marine environmental assessment method focusing on marine biodiversity. There were some concerns on availability of necessary data and applicability of proposed assessment methods to the NOWPAP waterbody. After consideration of the feasibility of the activities from various angles, the meeting agreed on putting some modifications in the proposed assessment methodology focusing on marine biodiversity. For the eutrophication assessment, it is decided to continue the activity in each selected sea area.
