Severe damages will result in human society, when several different critical natural phenomena coincide. One example relates to the resting cysts of Alexandrium species (dinoflagellates that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning), which are preserved in surface sediments throughout Osaka Bay, Japan. These cysts have been found to accumulate particularly densely in shallow areas in the inner parts of Osaka Bay, where a tsunami caused by an earthquake could occur any time. Damage by a tsunami could cause a change of the coastal ecosystems at Osaka Bay including the resuspension of surface sediments containing resting Alexandrium tamarense cysts and the subsequent redistribution of the cysts in newly deposited sediment. Under certain environmental conditions, these cysts could germinate and form dense blooms, leading to paralytic shellfish poisoning. Such a scenario could also affect other coastal areas, including the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula.

The rapid industrialization and urbanization in Osaka Bay have produced many serious water pollution problems since the 1960s. A symbolic phenomenon is algae bloom (red tide), which occurred 53 times in 1976. The special law was enacted in 1973 and a number of administrative steps were taken, such as cutting COD loading, reductions in phosphorus (P) and restriction of land reclamation. As a result, the pollution of Osaka Bay has gradually been reduced, and the environment has been improved to some extent. In this study, to analyze the relations between water qualities as well as a social, economic activity by the coastal zone, the water quality data in Osaka Bay of 70 years past since 1921 were collected. Data such as population, livestock, fertilizer, industrial product etc. were also collected for estimating nutrients flowing into bay from land. It was found that the water quality was changed of a similar trend of estimated nutrients load, with delay of about four or five years.

As an effort to clarify the ecosystem of Osaka Bay, a semi-enclosed coastal area under the influence of stratification, a three-dimensional water quality model with combination of the baroclinic flow model and primitive eco-system model was constructed. The proposed model succeeded in simulating the time-depending flow and density structure and the baroclinic residual currents in Osaka Bay. In present study, we tried to improve the model by taking account of the benthic-pelagic interaction and exchange of nutrients between sea bottom sediments and overlaying water. On vertical structure, the model consists of 13 layers of water and eight layers of sediments. Long-term prediction of water quality was conducted from 1964 to 1985. This period is characterized by rapid water pollution and its decrease by the cutoff reduction of COD and P flowed into Osaka Bay. By combining the sediment model into original model, the numerical model was confirmed to shows more reasonable results in simulating the water quality in Osaka Bay.

Study of the background and state of Osaka's waterfront space development and analysis of the functions of 22 chosen major facilities of development project reveals the following four types: amenity-oriented development, large-scale synthesis type development, renewal compound area type development, exchange communication promotion type development. Osaka bay area has served primely as the base of harbors, industry and energy, while analysis of the ongoing project has found that the city has been making a functional transition to a type of development to live up to the needs of the times, suggesting that is wise that Korea's future direction of waterfront development be oriented toward environmental-friendly development by taking advantage of low-density area's natural resources. Given the plurality and complexity of the law of coastal zone, what is needed is a legal maintenance for coastal zone's clear-cut coordinating function and for environmental-friendly development with the limitations of seaside and coastal functions in mind.