Microplastic Site Monitoring and Evaluation to Inform NRC’s Decision Support Tool Development

The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) is developing a decision support tool to provide relevant information to policy makers and those interested in developing business opportunities in the circular economy. This tool will assess the distribution and fate of microplastics in Canadian marine ecosystems through numerical modeling. To validate the numerical model, the NRC will require sampling from five evaluation sites: Fraser River, Ottawa River, Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Ocean locations. The project aims to integrate and refine microplastic monitoring and prediction systems from NRC and create a comprehensive pan-Canadian dataset while establishing the capacity for future long-term monitoring. Specifically, the project intends to provide standardized data for NRC’s model verification, which will aid in identification of microplastic pollution and mitigation efforts. This will be achieved by incorporating small-sized particles that are under-represented in water datasets (down to 10 µm) and capturing the temporal variability of these particles. The resulting dataset will serve as a valuable resource for stakeholders in Canada, improving the knowledge on microplastic pollution and driving effective strategies management and mitigation strategies.