After my last post, in which I examined the insides of a Koi,
I was asked whether I was looking for a specific type of plastic or plastic in
general. At this point in time, I would be happy to find any type of plastic in
fish that succumbed to a natural death or will be used as nourishment. I guess
what it really boils down to is the type of fish and where within the water
column it feeds.
Ideally, I’d love to get my hands on myctophids (lanternfish)
caught in vicinity of the North Atlantic garbage patch; preferably around 670
of them just like Captain Charles Moore’s team did as described in his book “Plastic
Ocean”. Per Captain Moore, these fish feast on zooplankton (p.213), and 35% out
of the 670 fish sampled in the North Pacific contained plastic fragments,
yielding 1,375 pieces in total (p.239). One of these fish actually contained 83
plastic pieces (p.239)!
 |
| Source: WoRMS |
Maybe you could participate in a 'crowdsourcing' opportunity like this person did and travel aboard a research cruise... https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sailing-the-atlantic-ocean-to-study-plastic-pollution --I'd certainly donate!!!
ReplyDeleteBack when you mentioned someone offered an $8000 trip to the garbage patch and back I was thinking about how I could raise that kind of money. My problem with the crowdsouring type of sites is that I'm not exactly the most social type of person, I'm guesstimating I could raise maybe $800. :) Part of me has also been thinking if I were willing to deal with the bureaucracy of standardized testing, if I go the teaching route I'd have summers to go on organized expeditions as well as continue my own research (plus a source of income for my own funding). I just really don't like what I witnessed while shadowing high school teachers here in Volusia County.
ReplyDelete