The publication Crosscut quotes PSI Director Joel Baker today in a story about microplastics in Puget Sound and the Pacific Ocean:
“The Center for Urban Waters at the University of Washington has been surveying the amount of micro-plastics and types of plastic in Puget Sound for years. The center’s lead researcher Joel Baker says they’ve been asked to identify the impact of plastic on Puget Sound waters, compared to chemical loads, bacteria and other pathogens from storm and wastewater.
Baker says it’s an “urban myth that there’s more plastic than plankton in the (entire) ocean.” While it’s true in certain of the world’s waters, it is not true of the Puget Sound. Nothetheless, microplastics and plankton are the subject of a new study Baker just submitted to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in collaboration with fellow UW researcher Miriam Doyle.”