Microplastics are difficult to degrade and pose a significant threat to our waters and the creatures that live in them. Therefore, it is important to determine how heavily rivers and seas are polluted. However, during sampling and subsequent evaluation, scientists could cause significant contamination by microparticles, for example by their clothing. At least that's what the results of a pilot study by Claire Gwinnett from Staffordshire University and Rachel Miller from the Rozalia Project for a Clean Ocean (USA) suggest.
The researchers carried out their investigations on the sail research ship "American Promise" of the Rozalia project on the Hudson River. They meticulously collected samples of all possible sources of pollution on the ship, such as the clothing of researchers and the crew or fibers of ropes. Thanks to this catalog, they were able to examine the water samples taken for the presence of these undesirable fibers and particles.
It turned out that almost 40 percent of the microfibers and microplastics found in the samples were due to the particles that came from the ship – if a strict anti-contamination protocol was followed. If this was not adhered to, the dirt particles even made up more than 70 percent of the sample.
In order to minimize contamination, the authors recommend researchers to be inspired by forensic methods. »Thinking of microplastic samples like a forensic doctor has its advantages, as this study showed. Criminal technicians constantly think about how they could contaminate rehearsals and how they can prevent this, «says Claire Gwinnett.
The solutions for future studies include the equipment of the entire team with the same clothing with low scale formation and unusual color and fiber morphology. This would enable quick identification as contamination. It is important that the entire boat crew is included in the quality protocol, since this study also found fibers from the captain and the first officer in the rehearsals.
