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National Committee on Marine Sciences (NCMS)

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AGROVOC Keyword: search.filters.agrovoc.sea pollutionOcean Decade Challenge: search.filters.odc.Challenge 1: Understand and beat marine pollution

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    Marine environmental problems: Experiences of developing regions
    Yap, Helen T. (Elsevier BV, 1992-01)
    The marine environmental problems of developing regions are a particular cause for concern because of the great dependence of their human populations on marine resources for survival, and because a significant portion of the world's natural heritage is threatened. Of the problems, the destruction of shallow-water ecosystems and organic (sewage) pollution are the most prominent. The environmental issues typical for Third World countries are clearly related to their socioeconomic conditions, so that attempts at solutions must possess an adequately broad perspective, i.e. they must consider all relevant aspects of a problem. There is also a great need to strengthen the capabilities of developing nations to care for their own environment.
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    Interactions between marine megafauna and plastic pollution in Southeast Asia
    Omeyer, Lucy; Duncan, Emily M.; Abreo, Neil Angelo S.; Acebes, Jo Marie V.; AngSinco-Jimenez, Lea A.; Anuar, Sabiqah T.; Aragones, Lemnuel V.; Araujo, Gonzalo; Carrasco, Luis R.; Chua, Marcus A.H.; Cordova, Muhammad R.; Dewanti, Lantun P.; Espiritu, Emilyn Q.; Garay, Jovanie B.; Germanov, Elitza S.; Getliff, Jade; Horcajo-Berna, Eva; Ibrahim, Yusof S.; Jaafar, Zeehan; Janairo, Jose Isagani B.; Gyi, Thanda Ko; Kreb, Danielle; Lim, Cheng Ling; Lyons, Youna; Mustika, Putu L.K.; Neo, Mei Lin; Ng, Sirius Z.H.; Pasaribu, Buntora; Pariatamby, Agamuthu; Peter, Cindy; Porter, Lindsay; Purba, Noir P.; Santa Cruz, Ernesto T.; Shams, Shahriar; Thompson, Kirsten F.; Torres, Daniel S.; Westerlaken, Rodney; Wongtawan, Tuempong; Godley, Brendan J. (Elsevier, 2023-05)
    Southeast (SE) Asia is a highly biodiverse region, yet it is also estimated to cumulatively contribute a third of the total global marine plastic pollution. This threat is known to have adverse impacts on marine megafauna, however, understanding of its impacts has recently been highlighted as a priority for research in the region. To address this knowledge gap, a structured literature review was conducted for species of cartilaginous fishes, marine mammals, marine reptiles, and seabirds present in SE Asia, collating cases on a global scale to allow for comparison, coupled with a regional expert elicitation to gather additional published and grey literature cases which would have been omitted during the structured literature review. Of the 380 marine megafauna species present in SE Asia, but also studied elsewhere, we found that 9.1 % and 4.5 % of all publications documenting plastic entanglement (n = 55) and ingestion (n = 291) were conducted in SE Asian countries. At the species level, published cases of entanglement from SE Asian countries were available for 10 % or less of species within each taxonomic group. Additionally, published ingestion cases were available primarily for marine mammals and were lacking entirely for seabirds in the region. The regional expert elicitation led to entanglement and ingestion cases from SE Asian countries being documented in 10 and 15 additional species respectively, highlighting the utility of a broader approach to data synthesis. While the scale of the plastic pollution in SE Asia is of particular concern for marine ecosystems, knowledge of its interactions and impacts on marine megafauna lags behind other areas of the world, even after the inclusion of a regional expert elicitation. Additional funding to help collate baseline data are critically needed to inform policy and solutions towards limiting the interactions of marine megafauna and plastic pollution in SE Asia.
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    Moving towards open data, public access, and information sharing to combat marine plastics pollution in the Philippines and the Southeast Asian region
    Alindayu, Ricardo C.; Licnachan, Lance Oliver C.; Luzadas, Ramgem L.; Ignacio, Paul Samuel P.; Onda, Deo Florence L. (Elsevier, 2023-09-01)
    Despite the consistent tagging of countries in Southeast Asia as among the top polluters of plastics in the oceans and the increasing local literature documenting the presence and abundance of plastics in marine environments, there still lacks a comprehensive, open, and accessible repository for marine plastics pollution data in the region. As such, this study presents the development of the PlastiCount Pilipinas portal in line with the call for a common data repository by the Philippines’ National Plan of Action for the Prevention, Reduction, and Management of Marine Litter and the ASEAN Regional Action Plan for Combating Marine Debris in the ASEAN Member States. A total of 14 existing databases were reviewed to identify key features for the online portal implemented to promote ease of access and diversified functionality. For the database, a total of 38 publications, 2 reports, 1 scientific poster, and 3 baselining studies were used to develop the initial ground-truthed baseline for marine plastic pollution, covering 23 provinces and 14 regions across the Philippines. The challenges presented by an observed variation across different methodologies and reporting styles emphasize the critical need to harmonize methods toward generating a more refined national baseline for marine litter. The initial baseline data and other resources such as manuals, information sheets, photographs, news, and publications are uploaded onto a public online portal for viewing and download (https://plasticount.ph/). Data and resource submissions from the public are also accepted and considered for inclusion in the database. The insights gained from developing the online portal and database for the Philippines can be used to inform the development of a regional database for Southeast Asia towards reducing marine litter.
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    Assessing the efficiency of microplastics extraction methods for tropical beach sediments and matrix preparation for experimental controls
    Bonita, Jan Danielle P.; Gomez, Norchel Corcia F.; Onda, Deo Florence L. (Frontiers Media SA, 2023-11-03)
    Introduction: Microplastic pollution has become a global issue, eliciting attention not just from the scientific community but also both from the public and governmental bodies. Drawing data-driven policies and interventions, however, remain difficult due to the severely lacking baseline information from different environments such as beaches. One of the challenges in doing baseline studies is the lack of harmonized methodologies that will allow for comparison of results, integration of data, and its effective translation to evidence-based policies. Emphasis on quality control measures among baselining efforts through the proper implementation of experimental controls is also lacking. Methodology: To address these gaps, we compared methodologies for preparing the sediment matrix for experimental controls, as well as evaluated protocols for extracting microplastics from tropical beach sediments. Beach sediments were collected, dried, sieved, and spiked with known amounts of microplastics of different polymer types. The removal and extraction efficiencies of the protocols being compared were evaluated. Results and discussion: Our results showed that subjecting beach sediments to a furnace at 550° C for 4 hours is the most efficient way to remove plastic contamination, implying its applicability for preparing experimental controls. Meanwhile, a modified version of Masura et al. (2015), one of the widely cited methodologies for microplastics extraction, exhibited the highest mean extraction efficiency (99.05 ± 0.82%) among the protocols being compared. Results of this work will be useful in identifying methods that can be adopted and utilized for research and baselining efforts not just in the Philippines but also in Southeast Asia. This will also be helpful in the harmonization of methods, data reporting, and even skills as implemented through the regional and national action plans to address marine plastic pollution.
    The authors would like to thank the members of the Microbial Oceanography Laboratory of the University of the Philippines, The Marine Science Institute, especially Mark Prudente and Kim John Balboa who provided assistance during the conduct of the experiment, and the staff and administrative personnel of the Bolinao Marine Laboratory.