Steve Cofone, UR - It's as easy as catching fish!

Hello everyone,
Today were going to discuss materials and methods we are going to use on our Independent Research Project(IRP). Our set up, as well as online and library resources.
I contacted Maia McGuire, PhD UF/IFAS Extension Florida Sea Grant Agent, she is a wealth of knowledge in this area and gave me a couple great directions to head in.

My materials will be fairly easy:

Environmental Field Book, No 550F- Record all data and specifics. Pencil. Sharpie.

 Fishing licence, fishing pole/Med action, bait (shrimp, worms, squid, mullet)(turkey leg for crab),  tackle box/various tackle(scale/tape measure...).

GPS- My phone, to map each position fished/ Also camera to document.

Fish Identification guide/Dichotomous key.

Cooler, Ice, Freezer bag.

Lab and associated equipment to properly dissect and analyze microscopically, the intestinal track of the bottom feeding species that I catch. 10% KOH solution.

Steve, excited to fish!

My methods/set-up consists of:

Planning where the best spots to fish are/and where I might find microplastics in the water, what times/tides, and what days. How long will I fish for? Will I limit the catch by quanity?

Here is some great data on water samples in my area, Flagler County, SeaGrant project

Log all pertinent data in field book, Date/Time, Tide, Moon Phase, GPS data, Temp, Conditions.

Actually fish- As we all know, fishing by no means is an exact science, this IRP is based on the ability to catch some of the species, Channel Catfish and/or Crabs. Assuming I am able to catch the species, I will immediately identify, record the weight, length (tip of nose to the top of the tail fin/crab, girth of body at widest point) and sex. I will then preserve the whole fish on ice in a freezer bag, marking the sample bag with a sharpie, I will number the species caught and will correspond with the appropriate data in my field book.

Identification aid

(1) Anthropogenic debris in seafood:  Plastic debris and fibers from textiles in fish and bivalves sold for human consumption. 

This abstract talks about the results that were found in 2015, It states that, anthropogenic debris was extracted from the digestive tracts of fish and whole shellfish using a 10% KOH** solution and quantified under a dissecting microscope. In Indonesia, anthropogenic debris was found in 28% of individual fish and in 55% of all species. Similarly, in the USA, anthropogenic debris was found in 25% of individual fish and in 67% of all species. Anthropogenic debris was also found in 33% of individual shellfish sampled. All of the anthropogenic debris recovered from fish in Indonesia was plastic, whereas anthropogenic debris recovered from fish in the USA was primarily fibers. 
**  10% KOH is 10% Potassium Hydroxide Solution

So the numbers, to me,  say that there is a solid chance that I will find something if  I catch enough species.
I have also found an article on "Benchmark protocol", I will return next week with more information on this as I dive into it!

Bibliography

(1) Rochman, C.M., A. Tahir, S.L. Williams, D.V. Baxa, R. Lam, J.T. Miller, F.-C. Teh, S. Werorlangi and S.J. Teh. 2015. Anthropogenic debris in seafood: Plastic debris and fibers from textiles in fish and bivalves sold for human consumption. Sci. Rep. 5, 14340; doi: 10.1038/srep14340.