The concepts of residence time and flushing time can be used to explain the exchange and transport of water or materials in a coastal sea. The application of these transport time scales are widespread in biological, hydrological, and geochemical studies. The water quality of the system crucially depends on the residence time and flushing time of a particle in the system. In this study, the residence and flushing time in Gamak Bay were calculated using the numerical model, EFDC, which includes a particle tracking module. The average residence time was 55 days in the inner bay, and the flushing time for Gamak Bay was about 44.8 days, according to the simulation. This means that it takes about 2 months for land and aquaculture generated particles to be transported out of Gamak Bay, which can lead to substances accumulating in the bay. These results show the relationships between the transport time scale and physical the properties of the embayment. The findings of this study will improves understanding of the water and material transport processes in Gamak Bay and will be important when assessing the potential impact of coastal development on water quality conditions.

We analyzed with HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) analysis photosynthetic pigments and environmental factors, microscopic observations of the phytoplankton and zooplankton in the seawater every month from February 2009 to November 2010 in Haengam Bay. The level of dissolved inorganic nutrients was the highest between July and September, when freshwater influx was at its peak, whereas chlorophyll a levels were the highest in April and August. Also, phytoplankton pigment concentration increased when dissolved inorganic nutrients are carried into nearshore waters by rainfall runoff. Based on identification of phytoplankton and photosynthetic pigments results, diatoms were mainly dominant while dinoflagellate populations increased at July and August 2009, May 2010. The zooplankton communities are dominated in terms of Noctiluca scintillans. The contribution of Noctiluca scintillans in 2010 accounts for approximately 77.3% of the total zooplankton. Distribution patterns over time of zooplankton in the seasonal distribution of phytoplankton showed a different pattern.

Chlorophyll a (chl a) has been used as an indicator for phytoplankton biomass in pelagic ecosystems due to the relative ease of measurement and selectivity for autotrophs in mixed plankton assemblages. However, the use of chl a as an indicator for phytoplankton biomass is restricted due to its inability to resolve taxonomic differences of phytoplankton and the highly variable relationship of chl a with phytoplankton. Here, we describe the analysis of High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) photosynthetic pigment data using CHEMTAX, which is a matrix factorization program that uses chemical taxonomic indices (phytoplankton carotenoids) to quantify the abundance of phytoplankton groups. Compared to direct microscopic counting that can distinguish species within broad groups, the resolution of taxonomic groups by CHEMTAX is generally coarse. It can only distinguish between diatoms, dinoflagellates, cryptophytes, cyanobacteria, chlorophytes, prasinophytes, and haptophytes. However, CHEMTAX analysis is much faster and less expensive than microscopic counting methods. HPLC pigment observations were taken in the spring, summer, fall, and winter in 2005～2006 within Gamak Bay, South Korea. CHEMTAX results revealed that diatoms were the dominant taxonomic group in Gamak Bay. In inner Gamak Bay, the ratio between diatoms and cryptophytes was 75～80%, and the ratio between dinoflagellates and cryptophytes was 10～15%. In outer Gamak Bay, the ratio between diatoms and cryptophytes was 85～90%, and the ratio between dinflagellates and cryptophytes was only 1～5%. The population structure was seasonal. Relative diatom populations were less in the summer than the winter season.

This research was performed to simulate shellfish production systems and sales in Gamak Bay, South Korea. To study the way the shellfish system generates maxima, a numerical model was developed to simulate the model under a control and a number of different scenarios. The program calculates the EMERGY flows by multiplying the flows of energy and materials by the appropriate solar transformity. In this study, an energy systems model was built to simulate the variation of sustainability for oyster aquaculture. The results of the simulation based on 2005 data that as oyster production yield slightly increases, money and assets increase to a steady state. When the program is run control simulation, the system reaches carrying capacity after 8 years. The simulation of models with price of purchased inputs increased with 3.5% inflation rate per year showed maximum benefit of shellfish production occurs after 6 years but amounts are less than control simulation, and then decreases slightly in money and yield results. The results with 3.5% inflation and increase of oyster price annually showed steady and slightly increase of money and yield.

The objective of this research is to apply more scientific, quantitative methods and procedures of environmental investigation to the development of the natural environment and the improvement of the human environment during the establishment of a sewage treatment plant and special facilities using environmental accounting. This research was performed to develop a method of strategic environmental assessment on the operation of sewage treatment plant and reuse of shellfish seeding areas through the use of environmental accounting based on EMERGY evaluation. The result was applied to marine environment policy in order to evaluate the real wealth of the regional environment and economy for both the present phase and the proposed developed phase. Using results from the comparison of EMERGY indices between the present situation and future scenarios, cost benefit analysis was performed for three different scenarios: (1) construction of a new sewage treatment plant, (2) relocation and recovery of the shellfish seeding area , and (3) relocation and re-seeding of shellfish area and construction of a new sewage treatment plant. Cost-benefit ratios of the three scenarios are 1.88, 0.94, and 1.38, respectively.

This research outlines a new method for evaluation of shellfish production in Gamak Bay based on the concept of EMERGY. Better understanding of those environmental factors influencing oyster production and the management of oyster stocks requires the ability to assess the real value of environmental sources such as solar energy, river, tide, wave, wind, and other physical mechanisms. In this research, EMERGY flows from environment sources were 76% for shellfish aquaculture in Gamak Bay. EMERGY yield ratio, Environmental Loading Ratio, and Sustainability Index were 4.26, 0.31 and 13.89, respectively. Using the Emergy evaluation data, the predicted maximum shellfish aquaculture production in Gamak Bay and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration, U.S.) designated area in Gamak Bay were 10,845 ton/y and 7,548 ton/yr, respectively. Since the predicted shellfish production was approximately 1.3 times more than produced shellfish production in 2005, the carrying capacity of Gamak Bay is estimated to be 1.3 times more than the present oyster production.

To find proper water quality management strategy for oxygen consumption organic matters in Jinhae bay, the physical process and net supply/decomposition in terms of COD was estimated by three-dimensional eco-hydrodynamic modeling. The estimation results of physical process in terms of COD showed that transportation of COD was dominant in loading area from land to sea, while accumulation of COD was dominant in middle～bottom level. In case of surface level, the net supply rate of COD was 0～60 mg/m2/day. The net decomposition rate of COD was 0～-0.05 mg/m2/day(-5～-10 m, in depth) to 2 level, and -0.05～-0.20 mg/m2/day(10 m ～) to bottom level. These results indicate that the biological decomposition and physical accumulation of COD are occurred for the most part of Jinhae Bay bottom. The variation of net supply or net decomposition rate of COD as reducing land based input loading is also remarkable. Therefore, it is important to consider both allochthonous and autochthonous oxygen demanding organic matters to improve the water quality of Jinhae Bay.

The three-dimensional eco-hydrodynamic model was applied to estimate the autochthonous COD caused by production of phytoplankton in Jinhae Bay. A residual current was simulated, using a hydrodynamic model, to have a sightly complicated pattern in the inner part of the bay, ranging from 0.001 to 5 cm/s. In the outer part of the bay, the simulated current flowed out to the south sea with a southward flow at a maximum of 25 cm/s. The results of the ecological model simulation of COD levels showed high concentrations, exceeding 4 mg/L, in the inner bay of Masan, an area of wastewater discharge, and lower levels, approaching less than 1 mg/L, closer to the outer part of the bay. The simulation results of Autochthonous COD by two methods using ecological modeling, showed high ratio over 70% of total COD. Therefore, it is more important to consider nutrients than organic matters in the region for control COD standard.

In Korean coastal areas, land reclamations are main development projects that should be based on environmental impact assessment(EIA), because those human interventions can change coastlines, damage tidal flats, and pollute adjacent areas to threat seafood safety and devaluate overall ecosystem service value. Existing procedures of the EIA for land reclamation projects were diagnosed and evaluated to enhance them. Problems were identified in the designation of survey areas, the consistency in survey sites and periods, the standardization of survey methods and reports, the confidence of survey results and the verification of predictions. Lack of integration was noticeable and could be improved by synthesizing different assessments from topography․geography, marine physics, marine chemistry and marine biology. We suggest that successful precautionary marine environment management requires readjusting the cost of EIA, recruiting experts in marine environment, constructing database and establishing specialized assessment system.

The mechanism of water pollution in Lake Shihwa, one of highly eutrophicated artificial lakes in Korea, has been studied using a numerical 3D physical-biochemical coupled model. In this study, the model was applied to estimate the contribution of land-based pollutant load to water quality of heavily polluted Lake Shihwa. The chemical oxygen demand(COD) was adopted as an index of the lake water quality, and the spatial distribution of an average COD concentration during the summer from 1999 to 2000 was simulated by the model. The simulated COD showed a good agreement with the observed data. According to reproducibility of COD, the highest levels between 8 and 9 mg/L were shown at the inner site of the lake with inflow of many rivers and ditches, while the lowest was found to be about 5 mg/L at the southwestern site near to dike gate. In the prediction of water quality of Lake Shihwa, COD showed still higher levels than 3 mg/L in case of reduction of 95% for land-based pollutant load. This suggests that the curtailment of land-based pollutant load is not only sufficient but the improvement of sediment quality or the increase of seawater exchange should be considered together to improve a water quality in Lake Shihwa.

The estuary of Nakdong river is very influenced by the freshwater contained nutrients and organic materials. The response results of these influences are eutrophication and red tide outbreak in this region. Concentration of chlorophyll a was 0.78∼62.55㎍/L in February, 1.20∼21.29㎍/L in April, 1.88∼188.35㎍/L in June, and 0.78∼11.21㎍/L in August, respectively. The decrease of chlorophyll a is considered that residence time is shorten by increase of freshwater discharge, and unfavorable growth condition of phytoplankton is created by diffusion of low salinity and increase of turbidity. The phytoplankton maximum region located inner side of this estuary during winter season, whereas it was moved to outer side when mean discharge of the Nakdong river was increased. Therefore, the variation of phytoplankton maximum region was affected by input discharge from the Nakdong river basin.