From 4 to 18 of october, our team carried out an expedition as part of IMPLAMAC Project. This expedition consisted of sampling microplastic in surface waters, water column and beaches (in La Graciosa, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura islands), along the Canary Islands archipelago, from Alegranza to La Gomera. Also they sampled plankton both in surface and water column.

For that, the expedition team was on board the Windfall, a 16-meter, two-masted steel ketch with a rich history behind it. It was built in 1975 for Dr. Fructus, scientific director of COMEX and good friend and colleague of Commander Jacques Cousteau.

In addition, for this expedition we have the collaboration of researchers from DTU (Technical University of Denmark) and state-of-the-art equipment that will allow us to study microplastics larger than 10 microns in the water column.

With this expedition, we will allow the identification and quantification of the microplastics present in the sampling stations along the archipelago, which will provide a mapping of both the contamination of the area and the zooplankton community.

More information and photos in:

https://implamac.com/expedicion/