Co-Convenors: Michael Foreman (Canada), Toyomitsu Horii (Japan), Vladimir Kulik (Russia), Phillip Mundy (USA), Sei-ichi Saitoh (Japan), Hiroya Sugisaki (Japan) and Tokio Wada (Japan)

Invited Speakers:
Josef Cherniawsky (Institute of Ocean Sciences, Canada)
Shin-ichi Ito (Tohoku National Fisheries Research Institute, Japan)
Nikolai Maximenko (International Pacific Research Center, USA)
Stanley Rice (University of Tampa, USA)
Masahiro Yamao (Hiroshima University, Japan)

From ancient times, we have been discussing and taking countermeasures on revival of fisheries and social infrastructures of waterside from natural disasters such as tsunamis and floods. The earthquake (Magnitude 9.0) that occurred in northeastern Japan on the 11th of March, 2011, was beyond our imagination. The earthquake and the subsequent gigantic tsunami destroyed the regional fisheries and surrounding society, and impacted marine ecosystems in eastern Japan. The tsunami also damaged the nuclear power plant of Fukushima, posing a serious threat to the North Pacific ecosystems due to the radioactive contamination of the ocean. Other recent examples of disasters which caused serious problems of environmental pollution for the marine ecosystems are hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the oil spill of the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The magnitude of climatic disasters such as storms and floods may have been enhanced due to global warming. Since oil refineries, factories, power plants and other industrial infrastructures are often built in the coastal areas of the world, coastal ecosystems are vulnerable to natural and artificial disasters. For the wise use of ecosystem services, it is urgent and important to reveal the effects of natural and artificial disasters on marine ecosystems, to document their restoration processes, and to promote effective measures for restoration and mitigation of disaster impacts. The purposes of this session are to discuss: (1) the effect on the marine ecosystem by disasters, (2) the effect on the marine industries and societies by disasters, (3) schemes for the mitigations and recoveries from the disasters, (4) field monitoring on the effect and the process of recoveries, (5) domestic and international cooperation, and (6) policy and its effect.