research
Research P.2
First item: Skateboard
I have done the base layer and painted the ocean on the board
The next item is adding the marine life
Data
INTERVIEW:
Marine Biology major and Diver, University of Hawai'i, Hilo
What pollution do you see on your dives ?
-I always take a mesh bag and always end up with trash
-Golf balls, trash fishing nets and mostly fishing gear most people think straws would be the biggest but dont always or ever see them
- Last semester I did plastic research and had to get a permit from NOAA to look at corals to see if coral reefs were affected by microplastics and in sediment
-We dove out and took sediment samples and got to analyze them, got see how much the coral was affected and saw a lot of fibers from plastic clothing more than anything. From polyester then anywhere.
Have you noticed a change in the reefs?
-When we go under the microscope we notice the damage not seen by the naked eye. We dove Hilo bay where all the imports and exports go to and from the island. We did some water quality testing and the quality has gone down every year i've taken samples.
Have Marine Animals been affected by pollution?
-I'm on the turtle rescue program for hilo and I respond to calls about turtle danger. A Lot of calls are false alarms but there has been a lot of fishing material and fishing nets I have found on turtles. I will go cut them out and make sure they are okay. It’s very easy for them to get caught in fishing line.
-We see pollution for sharks increase over their life time and over the years and the study is showing more chemicals like mercury over their lifetime also the same thing goes for turtles
-We tagged juvenile black tip reef sharks and would tag 14 or them and spent the year tracking them. It's been cool to see them come and go with migration and we see them come back with hook in the mouth or wrapped up in fishing lines and nets. We see more species down the food chain with more and more microplastic consumptions. A lot of the smaller species will consume the microplastics then we will see bigger species eating them. Then we see the plastics in the gut of older sharks accumulate over their lifespan.
Analysis
-Clothing has been the biggest pollutant
-Microplastics are more likely consumed by smaller species than once they are consumed by bigger species those bigger species contain microplastics in their guts
-Industrialization has negatively affected our oceans and the food we eat
Research 3
Right now I am in a stage of the project where I am completing some of the art works for the project. I am almost done with the skateboard then I will start on the pants I found at the thrift store. For the pants I was thinking of making almost like a skeleton ocean life pair. I am trying to decide if I keep everything in the same art style without showing trash in the ocean since it's mostly microplastics affecting the ocean and using the thrifted goods as a message.