In 2013, a new island was created by volcanic activity near Nishinoshima. The island continued to grow due to the outflow of lava, and after connecting with the original Nishinoshima, it expanded up to a point where the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) extends to the west of the island. This means that, once volcanic activity on Nishinoshima subsides in future, we can carry out surveying and revise nautical charts to expand the sea area around Japan.

The construction of a sub-sea tunnel across the Bosporus Straits in the Republic of Turkey linking Europe and Asia is said to have been Turkey's 150 year old dream. On October 29th 2013 the Bosporus Straits railway tunnel finally opened. This article introduces the marine environment at the sub-sea tunnel construction site and describes how the project made use of ICT.

As spawning and nursery grounds for fish and shellfish and also a source of feeds for aquacultured bivalves and ascidians, seagrass and seaweed beds are indispensable to coastal fisheries which is the primary industry in the Sanriku Coast. Thus, we conducted studies of impacts by the huge tsunami on 11 March 2011 on seaweed and seagrass beds. In the rias bays along the coastline, the seaweed beds around the mouth and middle of the bays were not impacted by the tsunami, but that the seagrass beds on the sandy bottom in the bay head had been destroyed. However, the seagrass beds are hardily recovering from seeds produced in previous years. While giant seawalls with a long width and a deep bottom are planed and have partly constructed, it is necessary to pay attention not to destroy habitats of seagrass beds which partly overlap space for construction of giant seawalls along the coastline.