Tracking marked plastic items on their journey through the Scheldt estuary, using the Permanent Belgian Acoustic Receiver Network (PBARN). Final Report: Brilliant Marine Research Idea 2020
Teunkens, B. (2021). Tracking marked plastic items on their journey through the Scheldt estuary, using the Permanent Belgian Acoustic Receiver Network (PBARN). Final Report: Brilliant Marine Research Idea 2020. University of Antwerp: Antwerp. 5 pp.
To answer such questions as: “How long does it take for plastic waste in the Scheldt river to end up in the North Sea?” and “What factors determine why some types of plastic are found more onriverbanks than in the river itself?”, it was decided to follow a variety of marked plastic items on their journey through the estuary of the Scheldt river. In December 2019 and July 2020 markedplastic items, either fitted with GPS trackers or part of a Citizen Science project, were released at different location along the Maritime Scheldt. Thanks to the ‘Brilliant Marine Research Idea’ grant we were also able to equip a number of plastic items with acoustic telemetry tags, normally used to monitor the movement of fish or marine mammals. Using the Permanent Belgian Acoustic Receiver Network (PBARN) we were able to monitor the movement of submerged plastic items in a more detailed way than ever before.
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