Understanding the impacts of marine plastic in the waters surrounding Papua New Guinea, Samoa and the Solomon Islands is at the core of a new collaboration between the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) of Australia.
“SPREP is delighted to be able to work with CSIRO to help protect the marine environments of the Pacific region” said Dr David Haynes, the Director of Waste Management and Pollution Control Division at SPREP.
“We look forward to work together with CSIRO to better understand and ultimately reduce the sources and impacts of marine debris in the SPREP region”.
Ms Kelsey Richardson, SPREP’s Pollution Management Assistant, will work with CSIRO Scientist Dr Denise Hardesty, who is a world expert in marine plastic pollution. Dr Hardesty leads a major marine plastic research programme based in the CSIRO marine laboratories in Hobart, Australia.
“Plastic particles are one of the most important and damaging pollutants now found in the marine environment” said Dr Hardesty. “They are widely distributed, contain a range of toxic pollutants, and can entangle marine wildlife.”
As part of this CSIRO and SPREP collaboration, Ms Richardson plans to participate in a CSIRO research voyage investigating by-catch by trawl fishing vessels around Papua New Guinea that. The research vessel will collect thousands of fish which will be sampled for ingestion of plastics to help understand the impacts of these pollutants on marine wildlife.
“During the voyage we will also run a manta tow net to sample for plastics in the surface of the ocean, in addition to taking water samples to investigate microplastic distribution in PNG waters” said Ms Richardson, who will have multiple tasks during the research voyage.
CSIRO is also providing expertise and assistance to SPREP in the development of studies of marine litter in Samoa and in Honiara, Solomon Islands to provide data on how much marine debris in the region arrives from rivers and nearby population centers, along with developing a better understanding of how it is ultimately distribution along coastlines and in the marine environment. This will help link waste management infrastructure and systems in the region to marine debris accumulation areas.
Source: SPREP
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