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there’s no reason why we couldn’t adapt that kind of technology to monitor plastics. We just need to tell the machine how to distinguish between plastics and plankton or sediments.” Once the Bay Observatory is deployed, Davies said he wants to invite companies developing technologies for detecting plastics to test their systems on the observatory. “Plastics are being found everywhere, but it’s never been fully quantified in our waters,” he said. “Just how much plastic is in Narragansett Bay? That’s really understudied. Can we predict if there are parts of the Bay with different concentrations of microplastics or larger plastics? I’ve got an umbrella of projects with the objective of environmental characterization, and our preliminary data is encouraging, compared to heavily industrialized areas like Long Island Sound, levels in the Bay appear lower. But we’re still working to nail that number down.” He also is working with colleague Coleen Suckling, assistant professor in sustainable aquaculture, to study the effect of microplastics on commercially important species in local waters. “Microplastics have a bad reputation, and everyone is worried about them,” Davies said. “But the empirical data we need is still lacking, meaning that we still don’t know what the health impacts of plastics on humans. We want to get to a more holistic view of the plastics problem, from recycling, waste management, the social justice disparity of how different communities are facing the challenge, especially the export of plastics, and finally the human health impacts. “There are a lot of factors involved, and it’s a real challenge,” he concluded. “It’s not a local problem, it’s everybody’s problem. But maybe the Bay Observatory can help us provide a more accurate and continually growing picture of what’s happening in our back yard.”

Photo by Jason Jaacks

“We want to get to a more holistic view of the plastics problem, from recycling, waste management, the social justice disparity of how different communities are facing the challenge, especially the export

of plastics, and finally the human health impacts.”

~ Andrew Davies

URI Initiative Plastics: Land to Sea SPRING | 2021 Page 63