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WHY BLUE SIREN

MARINE DEBRIS

Discover the four primary classifications of marine waste threatening our oceans and why comprehensive cleanup is essential.

Classifications & Realities of Marine Waste

Coastal Litter
🏖️ Coastal Litter & Beach Debris
Refuse washed ashore or carelessly discarded along shorelines. Driven by tidal surges and onshore winds, it mars pristine littoral landscapes and decimates vulnerable intertidal habitats.
Floating Debris
🌊 Floating Marine Debris
Buoyant plastics, styrofoam buoys, and derelict timber drifting across surface waters. They imperil maritime navigation and trigger lethal ingestion among foraging seabirds, turtles, and pelagic species.
Submerged Debris
⚓ Submerged Waste & ALDFG
Abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing gear (ALDFG), sunken nets, and heavy metal debris resting on the seafloor. Intact for decades, they continuously smother benthic habitats and drive destructive ghost fishing cycles.
Microplastics
🔬 Microplastics & Particulate Toxins
Secondary microplastics weathered down by UV solar radiation and mechanical wave action. They adsorb persistent organic pollutants, bioaccumulate throughout marine trophic food webs, and ultimately threaten human health.
🛡️ Why Must Blue Siren Address Submerged, Coastal, and Microplastic Debris Simultaneously?
Submerged Waste (Seafloor)
Accounting for ~73% of total marine debris, it smothers benthic substrate and halts carbon exchange, making specialized underwater salvage essential.
Coastal & Tidal Flat Debris
Blankets salt marshes and intertidal mudflats—our planet's most efficient blue carbon reservoirs—averting photosynthetic suffocation.
Microplastic Countermeasures
Safeguards phytoplankton physiological health, protecting microscopic biological pumps responsible for 50% of global carbon fixation.

🗺️ Korea National Marine Environment Information System (MEIS)

Integrated spatial GIS platform monitoring coastal pollution, habitat health, and oceanographic data.

Spatial GIS Platform
MEIS Official Map System
Marine Environment Information Map (MEIS)
A nationwide multi-dimensional spatial GIS platform provided by the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) and the Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation (KOEM). Access verified public coastal observation layers below.
🗑️ Marine Debris Nationwide distribution of coastal and benthic debris and cleanup monitoring stations
🐟 Marine Ecology Marine biodiversity distribution, critical habitats, and ecosystem health indices
📈 Oceanographic Data Real-time sea surface temperature, ocean currents, and physical hydrographic records
💧 Water Quality Coastal water quality grades, pollutant source tracing, and ecological compliance ratings
🗺️ Coastal Thematic Maps Zoning, coastal land usage, geological features, and marine environmental thematic layers
🔬 Marine Ecosystem Survey Comprehensive nationwide survey database and field reports on Korean coastal ecosystems
☢️ Radioactivity Monitoring Safety inspection results and real-time radioactivity monitoring across major maritime zones
Provided by: Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation (KOEM) · Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF)
Access MEIS Interactive Map →
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