"Plastic Problems: Polluting our Seas" UR- Allie Femiano

   The time of industrialization brought a new way of life for humans, many believed plastics to have positively impacted human life. In a way- plastics had freed us from the restrictions of limited resources and adversity the previous generations had faced. The availability and ease of man-made constructed materials authorizes humans to have ideal control over their daily lives. Although, the environment would argue that we are not in control of the impacts of our own influences. 
   By producing plastic in mass quantities, the world had now found a more productive and efficient way to function. However, the use and abuse of these forever materials are discarded improperly at an alarming rate into the natural world. Specifically our seas- by infecting and polluting the waters with toxicity, our marine life is suffering indisputably. By establishing and polluting such material, we endanger and kill many species. 

Photo by a water filtration company 

IRP Proposal: Microplastics in local fish species

  As most of you are aware, my independent research project is based on data from microplastics discovered in local fish remains. My goal is to collect information from locally caught/ recently dead fish's stomach contents. The accumulation of data from each catch/ collection will reveal a lot of answers to the questions I have about local fish microplastic consumption and answer my scientific question. 

What we know about Microplastic studies in local fish species 

   It's a fairly new study that people have began to pay attention to. Not much data has been documented on this, especially not locally. In the 1970's scientists began to produce records of plastics discovered in the stomachs of sea creatures. Since then, 92 species of fish have been affected and growing. This collected data proves this to be an important research project. We know the seas are filled with tiny pieces of microplastics that once consumed by marine life animals cause mutations and death. In an ecosystem all animals rely on other species for food- one consumption of plastics can spread to more and more animals. Causing the plastic to never break down and to continue polluting and infecting. Not only dangering one species but in turn dangering many more and possibly you (the consumer). 
  
What dont we know?

   Through my research, it has been determined there have not been clear differences in plastic consumption between the pelagic and benthic fishes. It's also prevalent that the plastic micro-pollution and relation to toxicity and impact on the oceanic food chain have also yet to be further studied. All information is also left unanswered on a local scale of which I plan on collecting data from.

My Scientific Question

   Are local fish species suffering from the impacts of microplastic consumption?

Dead fish captured amongst plastic pollution

My Methods 

   From numerous location, I will collect previously dead/ recently caught fish from fishermen and other local beach goers. Also- reaching out to anyone reading my independent research project proposal, contact me if you have any fish available for me to study. I just request a few environmental notes (long. lat), Fish ID, and initial fish mass.

   As I reach the scene, I will record lat/long, fish ID, mass of fish. Then I will remove the fish's stomach contents, weigh and remove the plastics discovered. After examining the remains I will then weigh the microplastics in proportion to the size of the fish (g of plastic per kg of fish) this will become a median between the data. I will record the data for each individual fish species and create an accurate representation of the data interpreted. For example, are local fish affected by microplastic consumption? Is there an underlying relation to fish species habitat and amount of plastics consumed? 

My Materials 

Gloves, Fish scale, GPS, camera, measuring tape, Fish ID guide, knife 

My Data represented 
These interpretations are still a work in process! I know that I will be including information on type of fish species and amount of plastics found in a bar graph. I also hope to create a graph tying the local data of plastics and relation to fish species habitat (pelagic, bottom dwellers).




Works Cited-

oAmaral, Kimberly. “Plastics in Our Oceans.” Plastics in Our Oceans, www.whoi.edu/science/B/people/kamaral/plasticsarticle.html.

oLonne, Torben. “How Ocean Pollution Impacts Marine Life-and All of Us.” MarineSafe, AlterNet, 3 May 2016, www.marinesafe.org/blog/2016/04/18/how-ocean-pollution-impacts-marine-life-and-all-of-us/.