Plastics
Plastic Pollution in the Marine Environment |
|
Our plastics project begin in 2006 when PTMSC staff members were walking along the beach near the marine exhibit here at Fort Worden, and discovered a large amount of small, colorless pellets of plastic strewn along the beach at the high tide line. They picked them up, brought some back, and discovered that they were pre-production plastic pellets, or “nurdles”, the starting material of most plastic production. |
 |
 |
The discovery of nurdles on the beach here at Fort Worden, led to the research about marine plastic debris, and connected us to Algalita Marine Research Foundation and inspired us to create our own research and education program about plastic marine debris. We received a grant from the Department of Ecology of Washington State to pursue our research and education goals. |
Education PTMSC educators have worked with over 2,000 school aged students, dissecting plastic-ridden boluses on Laysan Albatross and discussing the perils of plastics in the marine environment. Many students have come up with personal and classroom wide ‘Action Plans’ to reduce their use of plastic, and preventing plastic from reaching the sea. During the 2009-2010 academic year, PTMSC educators will be offering several workshops for teachers, providing curriculum and materials for marine plastic pollution educations in their classrooms. Educators who have attended the workshops are invited to borrow a class set of Laysan Albatross boli to use in their own classroom. The lesson plan can be found here and a PPT slideshow to accompany the lesson can be found here. PTMSC staff members have also provided numerous lectures for adult audiences. For more information on our marine plastic pollution education program, contact Jen Kingfisher, jkingfisher@ptmsc.org |
 |
 |
|
Protection Island Gull Bolus Study PTMSC staff and volunteers have collected and dissected over 200 Glaucous-Winged gull boli (boluses) from Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge to determine if gulls are ingesting plastic. Boli were collected during the breeding season, after the eggs were laid but not hatched. All boli within the sample plots were collected if intact. By initial external observation, 8% of boli contained plastic. Trained volunteers have dissected, sorted and quantified the contents of each bolus. Early analysis indicates that 14% of boli examined contain plastic marine debris. A second set of boli are currently being prepared for examination. |
 |
 |
Links to other useful websites *International Pellet Watch
|
|
|
