Networking Lunch Roundtables: Topics & Locations
The 6IMDC networking lunch took place on Wednesday March 14, from 12:00 – 1:00 pm. This relaxed and casual event focused on peer-facilitated round table discussions on the areas of: research, microplastics, outreach, reduction, partnerships, and policy. Seating was open and arranged by topic area. See below for a map of the six topic areas, and a list of specific roundtable discussion topics.
Microplastics
Location: Garden by the Bay
Analysis of Microplastics: Chemistry and Physical Analysis. Discuss toxic compounds and identification of microplastics, the types of synthetic polymer, separations of the water, tissue or sediment matrix.
Facilitator: Lorena M Rios Mendoza, University of Wisconsin Superior, USA
Analysis of Microplastics: Screening Techniques. Join the discussion about various analytical tools for microplastics determination with a focus on rapid and cost effective screening techniques.
Facilitator: Artem Dyachenko, East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD), USA
Microfibers From Synthetic Clothes. Discuss at an international level how to prevent microfibers by creating awareness, reducing and stopping the impact on an individual level, and building an effective and informative campaign for responsible consumers and producers.
Facilitator: Luisa Galgani, University of Siena, Italy
Microplastics in Marine Wildlife. Discussion of the methodologies of detecting microplastics in marine wildlife (dolphins, whales, sea turtles, sea birds, etc), species prioritization, and ultimate direction and endpoints.
Facilitator: Wayne McFee, NOAA, USA
Microplastic Movement and Biological Interactions. Microplastic ecology across ecosystems.
Facilitator: Timothy Hoellein, Loyola University Chicago, USA
Microplastics as Vectors of Contaminants. Discussion of the role of plastics as vectors of contaminants, the evidence to date, and its implications for the risks of plastic debris.
Facilitator: Bart Koelmans, Wageningen University, Netherlands
Research
Location: Garden by the Bay
Open to topics, risk, sources, policy responses. I would mostly like to engage with other folks who are interested in Marine Debris work in general. I have quite broad interests, but founded in statistical analysis of data related to Marine Debris.
Facilitator: Chris Wilcox, CSIRO, Australia
Field and Lab Methods for Microplastic Detection. Troubleshoot different methods being used to detect and quantify various types of microplastics collected from the field in sediments, waters, biota, etc.
Facilitator: Beth Polidoro, Arizona State University, USA
Research and Microplastics/Microfibers. Discuss efficiencies in the extraction and purification detection techniques in different environmental matrices as well as compare GCMS techniques with microscopy-oriented ones. Discuss biological consequences of microplastics uptake and adverse effects assessment in marine and freshwater organisms.
Facilitator: Alessio Gomiero, International Research Institute of Stavanger, Norway
Standard Reference Material Needs. NIST wants to poll marine debris researchers and polymer chemists to learn the community’s need for certified reference materials to improve measurements.
Facilitator: Jennifer Lynch, National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA
Uptake and Effects on Suspension Feeders. Standardized methods for bioassays with suspension feeders, the do’s and don’ts
Facilitator: J. Evan Ward, University of Connecticut, USA
Policy
Location: Magnolia Patio
Marine debris and the Extinction of the Pacific Albatross. The Zero Waste Approach in managing world resources.
Facilitator: Richard Anthony, Albatross Coalition, USA
Marine Debris Governance. Utilizing government, community and market approaches to governance to solve marine debris issues.
Facilitator: Joanna Vince, University of Tasmania, Australia
Plastic Pollution & Environmental Justice. Continuation of conversation from Plastic Pollution & Environmental Justice panel earlier in the day.
Facilitator: Genevieve Abedon, Ecoconsult, USA
Policy Answers. I am interested in understanding what concrete answers to marine litter have been put in place outside the European Union (which I represent).
Facilitator: Michel Sponar, European Commission, Belgium
Reduction
Location: Bayside Terrace
Abandoned, Lost, and Discarded Fishing Gear: Initial Problem Assessment. There is concern about negative impacts to species and habitats from lost fishing gear. We’ll discuss ways to assess potential problems and estimate degrees of impacts, and lost Fish Aggregation Devices.
Facilitator: Joan Drinkwin, Natural Resources Consultants, USA
Cleanup at Sea. The removal of benthic and pelagic debris in open waters.
Facilitator: Marthe Haarr, SALT Lofoten AS, Norway
Cleaning Methodologies at Sea: Where, How and When Could Clean-ups at Sea be Useful and What are the Potential Pitfalls. There is strong disagreement regarding the engineering and implementation of ocean cleaning solutions. There has been no extensive analysis of where, how, if and when such engineering solutions could be useful, as well as the potential pitfalls, such as impact on marine life.
Facilitator: Jannike, SALT, Norway
Co-create Nextgen Digital Platform + Toolkit for Cleanup Organizers. Volunteercleanup.org helps cleanup organizers plan and lead shoreline cleanups, while connecting them to volunteers. As we begin to design the next version of our website; our goal is to get input from other cleanup hosts to understand their needs, and features and functions that would be useful to them.
Facilitator: Dara Schoenwald, VolunteerCleanup.org, USA
Composting – A Waste Management Necessity to Eliminate Marine Debris. We would like to have open dialogue and conversation of how to integrate composting into a sustainable model that will demonstrate the effectiveness, efficiency and strategic benefit of diverting food waste from our waste stream and improve ocean health and promote environmental sustainability.
Facilitator: Dave McLaughlin, Clean Ocean Access, USA
Input Ways of Land-sourced Plastic Litter. Amounts of plastic litter.
Facilitator: Stephanie Cieplik, BKV GmbH, Germany
Logistics of Transporting Fishing Nets for Recycling. Please join this discussion on the logistics involved in transporting nets from remote fishing ports to the recycling facilities if you are working on finding solutions,would like to continue brainstorming, share lessons learned, and assist in providing a solution to this complex problem.
Facilitator: Nicole Baker, Net Your Problem, USA
Macro and Micro Debris Samples. Discuss the best way to gather macro debris after a storm event and how to separate microplastic debris from fine organic matter.
Facilitator: Kieu Tran, Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, USA
Marine Debris and the Arctic Ocean. Microplastics, Microfibers and Marine Debris have been showing up in Arctic Waters and can be found in Arctic Ice. The discussion will focus on the key issue of land and ship based waste management with the aim of ensuring all sources of pollution are managed in an environmentally sound manner, ensuring zero discharges to the Arctic environment.
Facilitator: David Condino, Civilian, USCG, USA
Marine Litter Solutions. Best practices and solutions to tackle the marine litter issue.
Facilitator: Thomas Maes, CEFAS, United Kingdom
Pinniped Disentanglement. We will be available to discuss pinniped disentanglement lessons learned, tools used, more about our Pinniped Entanglement Group and how to join. We will answer questions and be available for more in depth discussion in addition to our Pinniped Entanglement session.
Facilitator: Kim Raum-Suryan, NOAA/NMFS, USA
Plastics Industry Engagement to Address Marine Debris. Discussion of how the plastics value chain is engaged and opportunities for further action by the private sector to address marine debris.
Facilitator: Stewart Harris, American Chemistry Council, USA
Reducing Fishing Gear Loss. Line-less fishing technology to reduce trap loss, marine debris, entanglements of marine life and by catch.
Facilitator: Richard Riels, SMELTS, USA
Stormwater and Trash. Methods for reducing trash from stormwater runoff.
Facilitator: Matt Robinson, DC Department of Energy and Environment, USA
Waste Management for the Urban Poor. Nearly 70% of all marine debris inputs come from 10 rivers. Those rivers have massive, dense informal settlements lining their shores, where millions of people live without waste management services and rivers take the waste ‘away’ into our global oceans. To stop marine debris inputs, we must find affordable waste management solutions for the urban poor.
Facilitator: Heather Troutman, EAP Consult Ltd, Ghana
Partnerships
Location: Bayside Terrace/Frescos
Building out the Caribbean Node of the Global Partnership on Marine Litter. Information on the Caribbean Node of the GPML.
Facilitator: Robert Glazer, Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute, USA
Business and/or Social Enterprise. Discussion around creating an authentic enterprise with a sustainable business model (no greenwashing).
Facilitator: Dirk Xanthos, Ecology Action Centre / SOS Packaging & Supplies, Canada
Discussion on a global approach to address ghost gear through multi-stakeholder engagement and policy actions. Explore what action and activities are needed to achieve a reduction of ghost gear by 2025 in light of the UN SDG 14.1., what areas of work should be increased or what new opportunities are on the horizon.
Facilitator: Ingrid Giskes, World Animal Protection/Global Ghost Gear Initiative & Joanna Toole, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, Australia
GAO Review on U.S. and International Efforts to Address Consumer-based Marine Debris. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)—the investigative branch of Congress—is conducting a review of U.S. and international efforts to address consumer-based marine debris and we are interested in gaining the insights of domestic and international stakeholders.
Facilitator: Lisa Vojta, U.S. Government Accountability Office, USA
International Solutions to Marine Debris. The discussion will focus on specific strategies to prevent marine debris globally that is the result of dumping and littering at sea and how to raise awareness of this problem.
Facilitator: Suzanne Frazer & Dean Otsuki, Beach Environmental Awareness Campaign Hawai`i (B.E.A.C.H.), USA
Marine Debris Networks. Create marine debris networks, increase environmental consciousness.
Facilitator: Jella Kandziora, Freelancer, Germany
Organizational Model and Plan of Action for Funding Efforts to Mitigate the Impacts of Marine Debris-Going Beyond the Status Quo. We suggest an overarching plan of action to address the persistent solid waste pollution (PSWP) problem that must involve national and international implementation. Mechanisms for initiating such a plan will be presented and discussed with the hope of reaching consensus that will be supported/adopted by the 6IMDC and carried forward by its participants.
Facilitator: Bud Antonelis, Na Kama Kai, USA
Outreach
Location: South Lawn
Behavior Change. How to initiate behavior change away from single use plastics.
Facilitator: Cassidy Fitzclarence, Bottle for Botol, Australia
Education and Awareness: How to Reach Outside the Plastic Free Bubble. Discuss education and awareness.
Facilitator: Anne Bauer-Civiello, James Cook University, Australia
Education & Communication; Single-Use Laws & Policy. Youth Leadership: merging the arts, media, citizen science, and civic action for Plastic Free Waters
Facilitator: Debby Lee Cohen, Cafeteria Culture, USA
Future Documentary. After the success of ‘A Plastic Ocean’ I am in the process of planning another film and would like to discuss new science as possible subject matter.
Facilitator: Jo Ruxton, Plastic Oceans Foundation, UK
Heirs To Our Oceans Empowerment Learning. Interdisciplinary education based on a real-world problem.
Facilitator: Emily Bartlett, Heirs To Our Oceans, USA
Promote the Clean-up and Recycling of Marine Debris through Social Media. Use social media to promote coastal clean up event as an environmental education activity. The event can involve the experience of marine plastics recycling plants, raising the general public’s awareness of marine pollution and the conservation of natural resources through the reuse of marine plastic wastes.
Facilitator: Hsin-Chen Sung, Environmental Protection Administration Executive Yuan, R.O.C., Taiwan
Public Participation. Awareness, initiatives and directives imparted to the residents of coastal villages.
Facilitator: Rosamma Stephen, National Institute of Oceanography (rtd ), India
World Cleanup Latin American Tour. Discuss the upcoming World Cleanup Latin American Tour that aims to inspire to create behavior and legislation changes towards less marine debris and single-use plastic consumption.
Facilitator: Martina de Marcos, @WorldCleanup, Australia
World Oceans Day and Global Youth Engagement. Discuss World Oceans Day and ways to involve youth on a global scale, as well as year-round opportunities for youth engagement, especially for the Youth Advisory Council.
Facilitator: Rachael Coccia, The Ocean Project, USA