Microplastic and anthropogenic microfiber pollution in the surface waters of the East River and Long Island Sound, USA

Abstract

This pilot study aimed to investigate the abundance of microplastic and anthropogenic microfibers in surface waters of the East River and Long Island Sound (LIS), USA to identify pollution hotspots via high-resolution sampling and characterization of the samples identifying the number of microparticle pollution sources. Samples were taken every 3 miles from the East River (Greenpoint, Brooklyn) along the middle of LIS to The Race, where LIS meets Rhode Island Sound. 97% of samples (n = 29) contained anthropogenic particulates, 76.14% were fibers and 23.86% were fragments. 47.76% of the fibers were synthetic and 52.24% were non-synthetic/anthropogenic. Two primary and two secondary hotspots were observed, one of each near either end of the sampling area. In addition to composition, multiple characteristics were analyzed, including type, color, shape, material, presence of delusterant and width that identified 30 unique categories of potential sources of microparticle pollution.