The NOWPAP Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter (RAP MALI) is being implemented since March 2008, after its approval by the four NOWPAP member states. The 2008 NOWPAP International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) and Training Workshop were held in Vladivostok, Russian Federation on 26-28 September, as one of RAP MALI activities. Representatives of the member states and the Regional Activity Centres (RACs) of NOWPAP and its partners such as COBSEA (Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia), YSLME (Yellow Sea Large Marine Ecosystem) and Ocean Conservancy (which initiated the ICC campaigns in 1986) attended the events. In addition, Russian students, NGOs, media representatives and general public also participated.
At the training workshop on 26 September, 12 presentations were given to share national case studies on the ICC campaigns and related activities in the NOWPAP region as well as beyond the region (e.g., East Asian countries). The global vision of the ICC campaign as a year around movement was presented by the representative of Ocean Conservancy. An on-site training for ICC beach cleanup was conducted in Schitovaya Bay, Vladivostok on 27 September. Fifty participants collected approximately 40 kg of marine litter. After the on-site training, there was a small group meeting to exchange views on the annual ICC campaign in the NOWPAP region as part of outreach strategies to address marine litter issues. The meeting encouraged China and Russia to continue their efforts to organize national ICC campaigns after they have recently joined this kind of activity through the NOWPAP projects on marine litter implemented over last three years.
A working meeting was held on 28 September, back-to-back with the workshop and on-site training of ICC, to discuss the current progress on the implementation of RAP MALI. Further activities to be carried out in the 2008-2009 biennium were also discussed in-depth.
As one of the activities of the NOWPAP Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter, an International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) campaign was held in Dalian, People’s Republic of China on 11 September 2008. This event brought several hundred volunteers from local governmental agencies, industries, universities and non-governmental organizations together with international participants representing Japan, Ocean Conservancy and NOWPAP Regional Coordinating Unit. As a direct result of the activity, over one hundred kilogram of marine litter has been collected on a swimming beach and more from the adjacent seabed where scuba divers were involved. Immediate prior to the ICC, a domestic meeting on marine litter was organized by the Ministry of Environmental Protection to build up awareness on the issue and share experiences among relevant governmental authorities such as Ministry of Agriculture, Maritime Safety Administration and State Oceanic Administration in tackling the problem nationwide. Right after the ICC, an international marine litter prevention and control workshop was also organized for the similar purpose. It is the first time that Ocean Conservancy, the initiator of the ICC campaign worldwide, has sent a senior vice president to China to participate and promote the ICC in China. Similar ICC activities are being organized in Shanghai and other parts of China.
The 2nd Joint NOWAP Oil Spill Exercise was conduced on 2 September 2008 in Qingdao, China. This exercise was jointly organized by China Maritime Safety Administration and the Korea Coast Guard as one of the activities under the NOWPAP programme of work for 2008. The purpose of having this joint activity was to check the coordination between Chinese and Korean authorities in dealing with oil spill emergency preparedness and response. More than two dozen vessels, including two from Korea, an airplane and helicopter participated in the drill with more than 500 people observing the exercise. Representatives from 16 national and local agencies and related industries participated in the event. International observers included NOWPAP Regional Coordinating Unit and the Marine Environmental Emergency Preparedness and Response Regional Activity Centre (NOWPAP MERRAC), International Maritime Organization, Japan Coast Guard and a Singapore based oil spill-response company.
The exercise presented a scenario where a vessel lost control due to a fire
caused by a circuit failure in the engine room and collided with an oil tanker
anchored nearby. As a result of the incident, about 1,000 tones of oil were
spilled and the crew needed to be evacuated. The exercise, which was divided
into rescue effort and oil spill response, was conduced smoothly and
successfully. Both national and local media have widely reported the event.
This is the second NOWPAP joint oil spill exercise. The first one was held in
Aniva Bay (Sakhalin Island, Russia) in 2006 and was jointly organized by Russia
and Japan.