• A plastic pollution survey was conducted by SUNY Fredonia and the 5
Gyres Institute during an annual Great Lakes Environmental Sciences
Summer Field Course in July 2012.
! N = 21 open water samples were collected from 3 of the 5 Great Lakes
(Lake Superior, Huron, and Erie)
• Micro-plastics have been recently identified as marine pollutants of
significant concern (Ng and Obbard, 2006; Cole et al., 2011).
! Potential to act as vectors for the transfer of persistent organic pollutants
(POPs) to marine organisms (Ng and Obbard, 2006; Andrady, 2011).