DV-12-17 Microplastics pollution monitoring project

UMaine Alert

Posted: April 19, 2024 - 1:32 PM

At approximately 9:24 a.m. on Friday, April 19, a University of Maine graduate student was struck by a university vehicle on Long Road at the University of Maine campus in Orono. The student reports that they are at a local hospital with minor injuries.

Emergency services, including the Orono Fire Department, University Volunteer Ambulance Corps, University of Maine Police Department, Orono Police Department and Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene.

The university vehicle involved in the incident was a Chevrolet Express van. It was being operated by a university employee.

Counseling services and support are available for students, faculty or staff who may have been affected. The Counseling Center can be reached at 207-581-1392 and the Dean of Students Office can be reached at 207-581-1406.

The scene has been cleared and Long Road is now accessible. An investigation is being conducted by the University of Maine Police Department with assistance from the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office Crash Reconstruction Unit. Any witnesses to the incident are encouraged to contact Lt. Noel Santiago at noel.santiago@maine.edu.

November 8, 2018

Susan Shaw
Marine Environmental Research Institute
55 Main Street
Blue Hill, ME 04614
207.374.2135
sshaw@meriresearch.org

The world’s oceans are littered with plastic debris. With the 1997 discovery of staggering amounts of plastic collecting in the Pacific Ocean and North Atlantic gyres emerged the question of what happens to these plastics as they break down, since plastic particles have a very long residence time in the environment. Ingestion of plastic fragments can affect all levels of the food chain from tiny zooplankton to filter feeders to mammals. Once ingested, the particles have the potential to move up the food chain and magnify via trophic transfer and bioaccumulation, risking the health of marine mammals, fish, birds, and humans. The elements added during the manufacture of plastics, such as plasticizers and Bisphenol-A, which are used to make products more flexible or durable, disassociate from the plastic fragments and leach into the environment. Because of their ability to adsorb and concentrate contaminants such as PAHs, PCBs, DDT and PBDEs from the marine environment, microplastics may be even more harmful to marine biota than first imagined.

Microplastics are present in the Gulf of Maine and North Atlantic Ocean. But can they also be found closer to shore? In a year-long pilot study, MERI researchers and students will be testing a variety of techniques for sampling and counting microplastics abundance in Blue Hill Bay.

Sea Grant funds: $2,565