The microplastic footprint of a marina with an open-bottom polystyrene dock extends about 80 m perpendicular to the shore. Sediment samples contain microplastics that have settled and will persist for a long time. In the past, all 3 marinas had docks with fully exposed polystyrene foam. A few years ago, Kosh Lake Marina upgraded their docks, so their docks no longer shed microplastics, though concentrations remain high.
Metres from shore | Microplastics/gram of sediment | |
Stoney Pt North | 8 | 6.42 |
Stoney Pt South | 8 | 7.10 |
Stoney Pt East | 20 | 8.66 |
Kosh Marina | 20 | 1.00 |
Blue Mt Marina | 30 | 1.76 |
Blue Mt Marina | 60 | 0.275 |
Kosh Marina | 60 | 9.15 |
Stoney Pt East | 80 | 0.65 |
Stoney Pt South | 100 | 0 |
The pollution footprint of a private open-bottom polystyrene dock extends about 20 m perpendicular to the shore. Last summer, we did not have time to collect additional samples, so this estimate is based on 3 samples. We also did not collect samples to determine the width of the footprint along the shore.