Global Microplastics: An Investigation into Marine and Freshwater Pollution
Explore the world of microplastics with marine research scientist and oyster farmer Abby Barrows of Deer Isle.
Reservations
Required
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Location
Online
This event is handicap accessible
Microplastic is a pervasive pollutant found in every habitat in the world. Learn about global microplastic distribution, where it may come from, how it is affecting our marine species, some of its potential environmental impacts and most importantly, what we can do about it.
About the Presenter
Marine Research Scientist Abby Barrows grew up in Stonington, Maine. Her passion for travel brought her to the University of Tasmania, where she earned a BSc in Zoology. After mapping the canopy of old-growth temperate rainforests and trapping Tasmanian devils, Abby studied and published two papers on seahorse and pipefish behavior and diversity in Papua New Guinea. She has traveled the Southern Oceans and South Pacific by boat, trekked the Himalaya, explored the Middle East, researched sea turtles and big cats in South and Central America, dived Mediterranean wrecks, and worked aboard schooners and lobster boats in the Gulf of Maine. On her travels, she saw one thing in common everywhere: plastic pollution. Abby directed global microplastic pollution research since 2013, developing the most diverse and largest known dataset available to-date. She has published multiple papers on the subject and obtained her Master’s degree from College of the Atlantic in 2018. When not studying plastics, you can find her out on her oyster farm, Long Cove Sea Farm in Deer Isle, Maine.
Read about Abby in the September 2021 issue of DownEast magazine here!