ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIMEN BANKING - MARINE MONITORING STRATEGIES AND OCEANOGRAPHIC PERSPECTIVES

The establishment of an international marine specimen bank for worldwi de collection, preparation and storage of authentical biological and e nvironmental samples for monitoring and retrospective analysis is supp orted by a number of straightforward arguments. Discharge of radioacti ve waste, organic and inorganic pollution, various mining activities a nd ammunition disposal into the seas of the world in enormous quantiti es gives raise to serious concern about the future integrity of the ma rine ecosystem. Impact to climatic changes as well as large economic l osses could result from marine ecosystem damages. International effort s should therefore be immediately initiated for global monitoring toge ther with banking of authentical materials to enhance our present know ledge about cause/effect relationships and the physico-chemical backgr ound of stress to our marine ecosystem.