Students gathered on Scout Island to use the Babylegs aquatic trawl to look for microplastics in the area.
Questions asked:
How much microplastics can be found in the water around Scout Island in City Park?
How much plastic pollution is in the water?
What type of things can be found in the water?
Students used kayaks and canoes to use the babylegs to filter water around Scout Island. The water was tested over a 3 hour period in several areas along the water path.
Students also picked up litter along the water path.
Students recorded the litter found on Marine Debris app.
Students will clean the babylegs in Biology lab to look for the microplastics.
Students also collected water samples to look at under a microscope in the lab.
Students recorded the animals and invasive species seen in the area. They recorded on iNaturalist app.
Problems that occurred: Several of the babylegs came apart while canoeing. They were able to be recovered but may have affected the amount of microplastics collected.
There was a large amount of algae covering large areas of the water which made paddling and trawling difficult. This could have also affected collecting microplastics.
Data collected: Students picked up about one large garbage bag of trash, consisting of plastic bottles, diapers, plastic bags, beer cans,
and a range of other types of plastic.
Students are still looking through the filters for microplastics.
