Plastic Debris in the Marine Environment Symposium

AMRF/ ORV Alguita Projects

Current Projects

Pelagic Plastics

Plastic in the ocean may be one of the most alarming of today's environmental stories. Plastic, like diamonds, are forever! Because plastics do NOT biodegrade, no naturally occurring organisms can break these polymers down. Instead, plastic goes through a process called photodegredation, where sunlight breaks down plastic into smaller and smaller pieces until there is only plastic dust. But always plastic remains a polymer. When plastic debris meets the sea it can remain for centuries causing untold havoc in ecosystems.

Western Garbage Patch 2005 Study

Captain Charles Moore is planning another voyage to the Garbage Patch in the North Pacific Gyre. This trip will be to the western side for the gyre to collect surface samples using a manta trawl and mid-water column samples using bongo nets. These samples will be analyzed for plastic content and compared to the samples he collected on his previous trips to Hawaii and the eastern side of gyre.

Click to download a pdf of an Overview Map of the Collection Points

Escalera Nautica

The "Nautical ladder" project spans the coast of our neighbors to the south. President Fox of Mexico has proposed to build 150 new marinas down the coast of Baja California with the hope of luring American boating businesses and tourists across the border. The problem we foresee is that marinas disrupt the delicate balance naturally created for the coastal marine ecosystem. Although this issue is a politically charged, international one AMRF is encouraged to participate in determining the effects these new marinas will have by our own mission and goals. After all, it was our founder, Charles Moore who said "The Ocean has no boundaries; the impact humans have on the ocean effects the entire ocean." Construction has already begun on the first of the new marinas in La Salina. The ORV Alguita has already made one research voyage to asses the impact but plans to return to compile more data. We intend to inform the inhabitants of Baja California of what the damage will be should they allow this "Ladder" to progress.

Ballona Creek study

Previous studies of neustonic debris have been limited to surface samples. Here we conducted two trawl surveys, one before and one shortly after a rain event, in which debris and zooplankton density were compared at three depths in Santa Monica Bay, California

Year 2 of the Benchmark Study of
the San Ignacio and Ojo de Liebre Lagoons

This study has produced the first scientific report characterizing the marine habitat of the Eastern Pacific Gray Whale. Scientist Gustavo Riano of Biopesca has compiled the scientific research of various participants in the study and produced an interactive CD comparing the two lagoons that concludes the results for the pilot project.

Kelp Reforestation

Upon receipt of the "Equilon Pollution fine money" from the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Foundation, Gordon Lehman of Coastal Marine Technologies continues research on restoration of the endangered Giant Kelp beds off the southern California coast and continues development of his educational kelp sporing equipment. Funding thus far has gone toward the improvement of dive and laboratory equipment to provide a safe, high-tech research environment for divers working on kelp transplanting.

S.E.A. Lab

Located in Redondo Beach, Ca. S.E.A. Lab is the laboratory used to analyze the samples of plastic from the 2000 Mid-Pacific Gyre voyage and the coastal ocean and beach sand samples used for comparison. It will also be the site for research on the Kelp Bass Project, once funding has been confirmed. Staffed by knowledgeable scientists, volunteers are trained to analyze the samples in the lab.

Whale Lagoon Studies

This project is designed to compare the Oceanographic and Marine Biological conditions of the two major calving grounds of the Eastern Pacific Gray Whale Escherictius robustus. The project was initially undertaken to address the potential changes to the environment in the pristine environment of San Ignacio Lagoon that would be caused by the installation of a salt plant similar to the one already operating in Ojo de Liebre Lagoon, Baja California, Mexico. Our baseline sampling on two separate visits included a full suite of oceanographic surveys: phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish populations, sea bird populations, benthic invertebrates, trace metals in the sediments and sea grasses, and physical/chemical characteristics of the water column.

Projects Pending Funding

Portals to the Sea

Scope: Portals to the Sea is a project that would provide live digital video transmission with duplex voice communications form a diver under water along the southern California Coast line to a land based location.

Project Applications: This project will provide live laboratory study of marine life in national environmental settings, education and live introduction of underwater marine life for school class rooms and public entertainment. Two-way communications between viewer and diver, divers could be directed to a specific location or focus on specific objects. This approach could also provide spot or 24/7 monitoring of different marine life reducing cost, time and accessibility to the life being studied. Eventually, through satellite communications, this televised communication could be expanded to a worldwide event. Diver to shore communications can also be digitally recorded for documentation or for a later broadcast

The Kelp Bass Project

This will be the first study of its kind to analyze the hormonal effects that plastic marine debris is having on a major food-source fish, the Kelp Bass. With scientists at the S.E.A. Lab and Dr. Michael Baker at UCSD serum samples will be extracted from fish and the serum will be used to determine the effects of not only ingestion of a non-biodegradable substance but whether or not the plastic consumed is having a direct hormonal effect on the reproductive capabilities of the organism. Slated as a three and a half year study, this project proves to put AMRF on the map as a serious and dedicated scientific organization capable of producing relevant information to the communities we serve to protect and restore.