MFRC researchers have reported for the first time, microbeads floating in Irish coastal waters. A manta trawl survey for microplastics in Galway Bay (a coastal embayment in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean) retrieved 1182 floating microplastic particles from a total surface seawater volume of 2039.86m3, giving an average microplastic density of 0.56 ± 0.33 MP m−3 over 20 hauls. This means that the density of microplastics in Galway Bay is similar to comparable bays elsewhere in Europe.
The study results have just been published as an open access manuscript in the international scientific journal, Marine Pollution. The full article can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111361
The research was funded by the Irish Research Council (IRC) through a MarieSkłodowska-Curie Actions COFUND CAROLINE Fellowship to lead author Dr João Frias (IMP.act project, fellowship reference CLNE/2018/524). Additional financial and logistical support was provided by the Irish Marine Institute through scientific surveys on board the Celtic Voyager (CV17026 and CV17039)
More details of the IMP.act project are available on this website and on the dedicated project webpage
