Youngkweon Lee1*, Su-Jeong Yang1, Sung-Kyu Son1, Mi Hye Son1
1Korea Fisheries Resources Agency, Pohang-si Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea
In Korea, Barren ground (sea desertification) phenomenon is centered on the southern coast of Jeju Island and is rapidly spreading to the southern and eastern coasts. The marine forest enhancement project is being carried out to cope with decrease of the habitat and spawning grounds due to the expansion of barren ground phenomenon which affects to seaweeds biomass decrease. The marine forest enhancement project aims to restore the coastal ecosystem. This project includes formation of marine forest, management on enhancing the marine forest, management of a natural seaweed bed, improvement of the site conditions. For selecting the marine forest enhancement project site, the marine physical environment factors should be considered. This study is conducted a survey on the spread of tidal, algae, waves, and floating sand to accumulate data for evaluating marine ecosystem changes. In addition, for strengthen the resilience of the marine ecosystem and conserving the environment, seaweed reproduction induce study is conducted and expected to be used as basic data in the future. The estimation of the range of seaweed spore spread is possible by understanding the movement distance and direction of large brown algae which released from natural marine forests and artificial marine forests. It is expected that this will be an optical site for creating marine forests that can maximize the effect of restoring the marine ecosystem.