Challenges to Marine Debris Management in Korea

Abstract

Marine debris, such as derelict fishing gear, bottles, plastics, and Styrofoam, remain in the sea almost in perpetuity and harm the marine environment. Some marine debris is transboundary, making it a controversial issue on an international scale. With industrialization, population growth, and dense activity in coastal areas, large quantities of marine debris are generated, harming the marine environment and causing a large number of maritime accidents in Korea. Most of the coastal countries in the world are in a similar situation. The challenges to managing marine debris in Korea are shared with the international marine community. Keywords: environmental impactmarine debrismarine debris managementmarine environment The author thanks the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments on the manuscript. The author also thanks Karen Hae-Myung Hyun at Department of Marine Affairs, University of Rhode Island for editing earlier versions of this manuscript.