²έΑρΙηΗψ

Students at ²έΑρΙηΗψ, a partner of UHI, say a field trip to the Red Sea has inspired them to study the extent of marine plastic pollution and present their findings at an international conference next week.

The three undergraduate students, along with researchers Prof. Bhavani Narayanaswamy and Dr Geslaine Lemos Gonçalves, will present at MICRO 2024, a conference that brings together researchers and policy makers from around the world in an effort to overcome the problem of plastic pollution.

More than 800 people are expected to attend the conference, held in Lanzarote from 23 – 27 September.

Among those attending will be students Karen MacKechnie, Caitlin Fowler and Laura Marcos Widmer. They were among the 15 students who in April visited the Red Roots Sea facility in El Quseir, Egypt, where they saw incredible sealife such as turtles, large moray eels and lionfish during snorkelling and diving expeditions.

However, the amount of plastic pollution they observed also made a strong impression.

“When we were on the field trip we had to do a group project and because of what we saw we decided to work on plastic pollution,” said Karen. “It was very sobering to see the amount of plastic waste in such a beautiful part of the world.”

The students will present on topics such as plastic abundance in Red Sea mangroves and litter on Red Sea beaches, as well as quantifying and modelling plastic pollution on Scottish beaches.

Prof. Narayanaswamy and Dr Lemos Gonçalves will present on plastics work they’ve undertaken in Ghana, investigating microplastic contamination levels in mangrove wetlands and trapped litter in Ghanaian mangroves and sandy beaches.

Find out more about studying marine biology at ²έΑρΙηΗψ.