Marine

World Oceans Day 2015

June 5, 2015 by Marine Directorate Communications No Comments | Category Collaborations, Marine Directorate general, Marine Directorate Science, Marine Litter, Marine News from other Organisations

Today, 8 June, is World Oceans Day. The theme for this year is Healthy oceans, healthy planet. Our vision for Scottish seas includes the phrase ‘…. healthy, …. biologically diverse marine and coastal environments’. In our daily research, monitoring, assessment and management of human activities, we contribute to the delivery of our vision.

This year, particular effort is being made to stop plastic pollution. Marine litter is a key area of research and monitoring overseen by Dr Marie Russell and Dr Lynda Webster. We are developing techniques with others in Scotland in respect of the assessment of microplastics (pieces of plastic less than 5 mm in size). To celebrate World Oceans Day we are launching our new Topic Sheet on the Scottish Microplastics Research Group (SMRG) which is co-chaired by Dr Marie Russell and Dr Brian Quinn (University of the West of Scotland) with which we fund a PhD student investigating microplastics. Please take a few minutes to read the new topic sheet and find out how Marine Scotland Science is establishing baseline data on microplastics in Scottish seas.

Prof Colin Moffat
Head of Science – Marine Scotland

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• More information about World Oceans Day 2015

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