In February, the 12th APEC Oceans and Fisheries Working Group (OFWG) Meeting was held in Santiago, the capital of Chile. Representatives from 16 economies including Canada, Chile, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, South Korea, and international organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC), attended the meeting. Associate Researchers Huang Wei and Dai Xinfeng from SIO attended the meeting with the Chinese delegation.
      At the meeting, Associate Researcher Huang Wei made a work report on “Study on the Origin and Distribution of Microplastics in Typical and Marine APEC Region”. This project was jointly completed by SIO and the Ocean College, Zhejiang University. Over the past three years, the project team has studied the standard sampling and analysis methods of marine microplastics, the distribution of marine microplastics in the Asia-Pacific region, marine microplastics control measures and other related contents. Mr. Patrick Moran, Chairman of OFWG, representatives from the United States, Chile and other economies fully affirmed the results of the project. Associate Researcher Dai Xinfeng made a work report on the conference of “Symposium on Causative Species of Harmful Algal Blooms and Mechanism of Their Migration Dynamics in Asia-Pacific Region” held in Hangzhou in October 2018. The participating economies also expressed their approval for the suggestions on strengthening the information sharing and research cooperation of harmful algal blooms.
      By participating in this meeting, we fully demonstrated to Asia-Pacific economies China’s determination to control and manage marine microplastics. At the same time, it also reflected the research level of SIO on marine microplastics and harmful algal blooms. This has laid a foundation for further expanding international exchanges and cooperation in related fields under the framework of APEC.