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Marine Ecosystems Research Department - jamstec japan agency ...

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JAMSTEC 2002 Annual Report<br />

<strong>Marine</strong> <strong>Ecosystems</strong> <strong>Research</strong> <strong>Department</strong><br />

Fig. 9 Oyster rafts deployed for tests (made up of black buoys<br />

and rope) and suspended oyster spats.<br />

Personal <strong>Research</strong><br />

<strong>Research</strong> on evaluating deep seawater quality<br />

Period: FY-FY<br />

There are more than ten deep seawater pumping<br />

facilities in Japan, and several more are due for completion<br />

this fiscal year, while many other local governments<br />

are currently examining plans to install these<br />

facilities. Similar facilities are also operating overseas,<br />

and other countries including South Korea are looking<br />

into their establishment.<br />

One feature of deep seawater is its purity, and this<br />

makes it extremely useful as raw material in food and<br />

drinking water. Today there are many products using<br />

deep seawater on the market. In this light, deep seawater<br />

is becoming increasing important from the perspective<br />

of safety and reliability in relation to environmental<br />

and dietary issues, but we do not have a clear<br />

understanding about these aspects of deep seawater.<br />

In this research we study deep seawater brought up<br />

from the pumping facilities, and examine methods of<br />

evaluating this water for harmful microbes and<br />

endocrine disrupters (environmental hormones) to<br />

ensure its safe utilization.<br />

This is the final year of the project, so our evaluation<br />

of harmful microbes and endocrine disrupters is based<br />

on our work over the past two years. Until last fiscal<br />

year our survey sites were limited to Japan, but this<br />

year our survey also included South Korea. Figure <br />

shows the survey sites and depth of the water collected.<br />

Regarding harmful microbes, we measured the total<br />

count and plate count, and analyzed the genetic makeup<br />

of pathogens from human-caused contamination.<br />

From this, we confirmed the cleanliness of deep seawater<br />

relative to surface water.<br />

As for endocrine disrupters, we analyzed our<br />

research results up to last fiscal year for dioxins,<br />

which are viewed as legally important, and highly<br />

toxic human-caused pollutants. From this, we confirmed<br />

that the level of dioxins in deep seawater is less<br />

than / of the standard value (environmental standard,<br />

and water quality standard for drinking water).<br />

As mentioned before, deep seawater is often used as<br />

a raw material for drinking water and food, and the<br />

safety of deep seawater at the surveyed facilities was<br />

confirmed by our research.<br />

Studies on the transport process of eggs and larvae<br />

in coral reef regions<br />

Period: FY-FY<br />

In recent years coral communities (species) in coral<br />

reef regions have tended to shift northward with high<br />

seawater temperatures, and the Kuroshio Current<br />

Kume Island, Okinawa<br />

Okinawa Deep Seawater<br />

<strong>Research</strong> Institute<br />

(15m, 612m)<br />

Offshore Goseong,<br />

Gangwon, South Korea<br />

Collected by ship<br />

Kumaishi, Hokkaido<br />

Deep seawater<br />

pumping facility<br />

(5m, 330m)<br />

Namerikawa, Toyama<br />

Toyama Fisheries<br />

Experimental Station<br />

(17m, 321m)<br />

Muroto, Kochi<br />

Kochi Deep Seawater<br />

<strong>Research</strong> Institute<br />

(17m, 320-344m)<br />

Yaizu, Shizuoka<br />

Shizuoka Fisheries<br />

Experimental Station<br />

(26m, 397m, 687m)<br />

Fig.10 Survey sites and depth of deep seawater collected.<br />

54

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