Oysters are the most abundantly harvested type of shellfish in Korea. As export of this marine product increases, oysters have greatly contributed to an increase in fishing income. As the oyster aquaculture industry has rapidly grown since the late 1990s, issues of oyster-shell processing that occur in production processes have re-emerged as important topics in the oyster industry. The amount of oyster shells harvested in 2019 is estimated to be approximately 300,000 tons. With reductions in demand for pyrolytic fertilizer and feed, which are currently the greatest sources of demand, unprocessed shell quantities have doubled compared to 2018, causing them to be an issue once more. Such oyster-shell processing also incurs great costs, and a total of forty-six billion three hundred fifty million Korean won (46,350,000,000 KRW) has been provided from 2009 to 2020 for the use of oyster shells as a resource. According to current Korean laws, oyster shells are considered to be industrial waste if more than 300 kilograms are sent out in a day. Collection and processing must be conducted by a waste-consignment company. Consequently, there are many limitations to the use of oyster shells in Korea as a resource. However, in Japan, only oyster-shell waste is regulated by waste-processing As a result, local governments may apply exceptions when utilized as organic matter. Consequently, in Japan, oyster shells are being used as resources in more diverse fields than in Korea. This study observes the conditions and problems of oyster-shell processing in Korea and attempts to find new domestic oyster-shell resource solutions in light of Japan’s recycling practices.

Tetranychid mites are one of the most diverse group including at least 1,200 species in the world. Species identification is difficult due to the small size and similar morphology within the group. We collected 17 species of spider mites from various host plants in different regions of Korea and determined species identity by the comparison of morphological characters and nucleotide sequences of internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) and the cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI). In addition, we report three new species that were firstly identified in Korea. Amphitetranychus quercivorus (Ehara and Gotoh) was collected from Mongolian oak plant in Daegu, Schizotetranychus miscanthi Saito was from the common reed plant in Ulleungdo, and S. cercidiphylli Ehara was from Bamboo plant in Jeju. Morphological identification of three species were similar with those of Japanese samples, but the ITS2 and COI sequences of A. quercivorus and the COI sequence of S. miscanthi were different with Japanese species at the rates of 1/419, 2/331 and 3/332 nucleotides, repsectively. S. cercidiphylli can be identified by the aedeagus shape of males but we firstly sequenced ITS2 and COI of this species. Our results can be used for the identification of spider mites which are important in plant quarantine.