Page - 213 - in Freshwater Microplastics - Emerging Environmental Contaminants?

Similar initiatives have been developed on the other side of the Atlantic in Europe. The European Environmental Agency, an independent agency financed by the European Union, has developed a mobile application called Marine LitterWatch [52] on the same principles as Marine Debris Tracker. Marine LitterWatch is usedby scientists andNGOs in at least tenmember states [52]. Apart from these stakeholders (scientist andNGOs), students can also play an active role in collecting and monitoring data using these mobile applications (Fig. 2). In the Roskilde Fjord region in Denmark, students collaborated with scientists to generate data on the occurrence ofmarine litter at 12 beaches around the fjord [53]. The students analyzed the data using a protocol inspired by the Marine LitterWatch protocol [53]. A similar but much larger project has been conducted in Chile [54]. The “National Sampling of Small Plastic Debris”was a CS project, where schoolchildren from 39 (approximately 1,000 students) from continentalChileand theEaster Islandparticipated in theactivity [54].Theproject documented the distribution and abundance of small plastic debris on Chilean beaches. Scientist validated the data obtained in the program by recounting all samples in the laboratory.The results showed that the studentswereable to follow the instructions and generate reliable data [54]. Such involvement of students in collecting data serves as an example of the transformative learning discussed by Ruiz-Malle´n et al. [47]. Microplastic is not as visible as meso- andmacroplastic and therefore not as easily collected in these CS programs. But since the majority of microplastic pollution is secondary microplastic particles – i.e., breakdown products from meso- and macroplastic – the microplastic pollution is closely interlinked with larger plastic debris. Furthermore themajority ofmarineplastic debris stems from land-basedsources [39],makingNOAAarguing thatbeachcleanups are important contribution tomarine protection [50], since they provide additional information for monitoring programs and help protect the environment. The development of MarineDebrisTrackerappandtheEEAMarineLitterWatch illustrates twoaspects Fig.1 (Left):Picture showingdatamarinedebris collectedand reportedwith the“MarineDebris Tracker app”madebyNOAAMarineDebris Programand theSoutheastAtlanticMarineDebris Initiative [50]. (Right):Citizens using theMarineDebrisTracker app (Picture fromSEA-MDI) RiskPerceptionofPlastic Pollution: Importance ofStakeholder Involvement. . . 213