The global importance of regional studies in marine science: Trans-boundary pollutants matter

• Published in: Regional Studies in Marine Science
• Main Authors: Lauenstein, GG, Leung, KMY, Hall-Spencer, JM
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/16721; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsma.2015.10.001

© 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V. This editorial is a clarion call that trans-boundary pollutants matter since they impact marine life and can also affect people. It is impossible to know what all the possible pollutants that are ultimately arriving in the world/s waters are. The ability to "know'what we should be looking for is summarized in an editorialby Scott et al. (2012) who, using Donald Rumsfeld/s terminologysuggested three categories: Known knowns, Known unknowns,and Unknown unknowns. Listed in the first category are: flameretardants, perfluorinated compounds, and pesticides. The secondcategory includes antibiotics, nano-particles, and transformationproducts such as the byproducts of water chlorination oftreated wastewater effluent. The Unknown unknowns, which areenigmatic, pose the greatest potential danger to environment and s the group for which the most insightful research is possible. Other trans-boundary marine issues (e.g. fisheries exploitation,the spread of pathogens, melting of Arctic ice and the movement of invasive species) we shall leave to later editorials. We hopeto receive manuscripts on trans-boundary marine issues and are looking forward to your submissions.