Team from Presidency College combs beaches for data
A team of four from Presidency College — an associate professor and three research students — are inquisitive about the contents of their dinner plate more than ever before. Before it makes to their plates, the fish they source fresh from the coast is assessed for presence of microplastics.
National Center for Coastal Research (NCCR) has brought this team from Presidency College on board for a study that seeks to understand the magnitude of microplastic pollution in marine ecosystems.
P.K. Karuppasamy, associate professor, Department of Zoology, Presidency College, and his team of three PhD students have been signed up for a three-year project with NCCR.
The thrust of the project is to study “the accumulation and toxicity of microplastics in commercially important fish from selected estuaries and coastal waters of India.” They are currently focussing on the Tamil Nadu coast, where they cut the guts of the fish to find out various microplastics.
“We take at least 40 individuals of every species to study the microplastic content,” says the professor, adding that they visit various beaches and samples are brought to the laboratory in the college. The type of polymers present in each fish is identified.
Karuppasamy says the college is regular in participating in beach clean-up events and he got introduced to NCCR during one such drive.
“In 2019, we were invited to clean up a long stretch of the Thiruvanmiyur beach and present a report on the kind of waste that washes ashore,” says the professor who has also served as NSS programme officer.
More than 30 other beaches were part of the study. “Thiruvanmiyur beach was among beaches that registered the least amounts of litter then, which is because of the involvement of the local community and the role played by Greater Chennai Corporation,” says the professor.
A team from SRM University is grappling with issues related to microplastic pollution
R. Nagalakshmi from the Department of Civil Engineering at SRM University is leading a team of four “project staff” on a four-year project that started in 2022.
The study titled “Qualitative and quantitative assessment of marine litter and microplastics” requires them to dig deep to find its origins in the east and west coasts of India including ecologically-sensitive areas.
“We have so far covered the coasts of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and a part of Tamil Nadu. We will next be taking up research in Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat and Maharashatra,” says the associate professor.
Besides the plastics washed ashore, the team gets help from research vessels that collect samples from oceans. They are either analysed on the research vessel or taken to the University’s lab.
River sampling
Aswath Balaji, a project associate, says collecting samples from rivers is the toughest. “We hire a boat and try to get as many samples as possible before it rains, so we have to be prepared to be without food for hours together,” he says.
It is a different challenge on the sea. “This is the first time I went on a research vessel where we spent 20 days with no signals to find plastic floating 50 km away from the shores,” he says. There work does not end with collecting data but they are also involved in creating awareness among people in the fishing communities and the general public. “Single-use plastic is the biggest threat to our marine life, so we engage with various groups through competitions, street plays and rallies,” says Nagalakshmi. Cloth bags are also distributed.
Working on this project has meant every team member has become more environment conscious. Aswath illustrates: “Recently, my dad who runs an NGO was conducting a quiz for school students and I took the opportunity to talk about microplastics.”
A wider net
NCCR, which operates from the NIOT campus in Pallikaranai, is casting the net wider.
“Earlier we worked with scientific institutions, and now with universities and colleges too, to make data collection easier and better,” says Pravakar Mishra, scientist — G, National Center for Coastal Research.
“Engaging with a college/ university close to the beach is a great way to take our work further. Besides, a beach is cleaner when a community close to it is engaged in the job of monitoring it,” says Mishra.
Affiliated to the Ministry of Earth Science, NCCR has been running “grant-in-aid” projects to engage with institutions.
“When we know a particular college or university is having a certain expertise then we ask them to apply for the grant-in-aid programme, where data has to be collected scientifically. Based on their proposal, they are funded. We are interested in getting data,” says the scientist, who retired from NCCR on May 31. Some institutions associate with the Centre for internships and students pursuing a thesis make use of the labs for research work.
“These are some ways to engage and educate the next generation and build capacity as well,” he says.
In Chennai, NCCR has an MoU with SRM University and Presidency College, each on different topics. “Our MoU with Andhra University is helping us get data to monitor water along the Andhra coast,” he says.
Likewise, NGOs also collaborate with the Centre. He says: “There are a few NGOs that collect debris from fishermen’s net and give us data on the type of plastics.”
