Exchanging Data and Information on Marine Pollution - Challenges and Issues
Gil S. Jacinto
Marine Science Institute, University of the Philippines
Email: gilj@msi01.cs.upd.edu.ph:
Abstract
The development of a data and information exchange mechanism for marine pollution is needed. However, unlike physical oceanographic data for which methods and instruments for data acquisition are fairly well standardized and the mechanisms for data exchange and validation have been around for a long time, data on contaminants are not as easily obtained and shared.
There are several challenges and issues that need to be considered. For example, agencies that have traditionally been able to provide physical oceanographic data (e.g., hydrographic departments) are not necessarily able or equipped to acquire marine pollution data. Parameters measured to assess marine pollution vary considerably. Also, data on contaminant levels generated by various laboratories, within a country and among countries in the region, may not be reliable; hence, not comparable. Problems remain in generating accurate data even for parameters that are relatively easy to measure (e.g., nutrients). Standard reference materials are expensive and, for some parameters and matrices, difficult to acquire. Monitoring of contaminants is often limited to nearshore areas because these tend to be more accessible to laboratories, thereby limiting the spatial perspective of contaminant levels. Because analysis costs are high and oftentimes time-consuming, the number of samples acquired and the data generated are also limited. Furthermore, if contaminant levels are obtained by academic or research groups, they may be unwilling to share the data until after these are published in scientific journals. The disclosure of some environmental data to the public may also be seen to compromise economic activities of countries (e,g., coliform counts in tourist destinations or red tide episodes in mariculture areas); thus, there might be reluctance to provide such data especially on a real-time basis.
Some of these issues are not too difficult to address and would involve building upon initiatives that have already been pursued in the region (e.g., encouragement of performance-based methods among laboratories, regular inter-comparison exercises, capacity building especially in the understanding and practice of quality assurance and quality control among laboratories). Other initiatives will require new approaches to involve participants, acquire data, and share information. Among these might be mechanisms to enable scientists to share and use data without concern for storage technique, location, or format on the Internet. In turn, this would need time, resources, new technologies, commitment, and a shared vision among the countries of a better future made possible by sharing marine pollution data and information.
