Ocean Wise Conservation Association

Purpose

The project aims to combine the field sampling and analytical capabilities at the Ocean Wise Plastics Laboratory with research expertise at the NRC to develop data standardization, fate and transport modeling, and decision-making tools to combat microplastic pollution. Estimates of microplastic abundance, along with physical and chemical characterization at representative sites in urban coastal waters of the Salish Sea will be combined with predictive modeling to understand which environments are most at risk from microplastic accumulation and “hot spots”. The project also aims to work with international partners to promote adoption of standard practices for analysis and reporting of environmental microplastic data. Building on existing work on chemical weathering of common polymer materials, this project will inform on generation pathways for nanoplastics, a newly identified contaminant of concern.