Using the Collected Data on a Wider Scale

This week did not lend itself to kayaking: the weather was too inhospitable, and the wind did not die down as the weekend grew closer. The next week will mostly be spent on method development and process improvements to streamline all of the notes and practical experiences already gained from the days on the water. While landlocked for the past week, I have been considering how the data collected by sea kayakers aligns with data from other studies and ongoing citizen science projects, and how this ties in to gathering extensive and diverse data on microplastic pollution.

The Range of Citizen Science

All over the world, microplastic is a topic of scientific relevance. We know it’s a problem, and we want to do something about it - so why do we need more data on distribution and composition of microplastics in the marine environment?

Tracking microplastic pollution over time is crucial to continuing research, understanding how plastic affects wildlife and natural environments, and to developing solutions. Furthermore, gathering data from diverse areas is necessary to get a complete picture of the extent of pollution. Collecting extensive data can inspire future research and solutions, and empower policy change and advocacy.

While many different groups of people care about the environment and want to make a difference, the outdoor community represents a unique population which is already well-positioned to participate in field data collection and research through citizen science. Several large datasets using citizen science as its primary data collection method already exist, such as the Big Microplastic Survey (microplasticsurvey.org) and the Adventure Scientists’ Microplastic Initiatives (adventurescientists.org).

Data Collection is One Part of the Puzzle

Collection of field samples and isolation of microplastics from them is only the first step towards using the data to affect change. After the plastic is collected by citizen scientists, it is available for analysis in laboratory conditions, and the data becomes part of the global knowledge on plastic pollution. Many datasets of varying sizes on marine plastic pollution exist around the world, and the data collected from this project contributes to the sum of those resources. These resources can then be used for large-scale studies, and can be expanded with further analysis of the original samples. These datasets, when combined, represent a powerful resource which can be used to affect change and develop solutions to the microplastic issue. However, differences in methodology and data analysis complicate this.

When combining data from different sources, issues with incompatible units and transferability of data come up. While there is no commonly recognised standard for marine microplastic research, there are some methods that microplastic studies tend to default towards. This is positive when it comes to the compatibility of the data, but does also run the risk of losing diversity of data. One such method is the trawl, where the most widely used is the Manta trawl. The design of the kayaking trawl is also based on the design of the Manta, but factors such as materials can impact the collected data. It is therefore in this project’s interest to be able to replicate the final trawl design, so that participating kayaking clubs can collect data using uniform methods, and the data as such can be more easily used for further research.

Over and out,

Tia W.

On Expedition Planning and Methodology

Wednesday, July 8th 2020

This week, my sailing plans have been foiled by none other than the weather. High winds and rain are throwing the schedule off, but that is not the only adjustment I have had to make to the planning of this expedition. I realise now that when I was planning the summer and learning how to sail a sea kayak, I fell into the trap I suspect many beginners do: overestimating the scope of the project at hand. This week of dry land is a good time to reflect on that, and have a look at how the rest of the project can be adjusted to ensure its success. After all, experience comes with mistakes, and the only thing to do is learn from them and keep moving forward.

Physical Ability and Ambitious Plans

I have been on the water for a few days so far, and have not met my initial target of 25 km per sailing day. This was a number I came up with as I was researching long distance kayaking, and read that it was a fair daily distance for a strong kayaker. I had not quite counted on the physical challenge of paddling for hours, and have so far sailed 15 km in one day at most. Now, I think it’s important to acknowledge this, and adjust accordingly. I have a tendency to plan over-ambitious projects. With this one, I’m able to catch it early and ensure that the expedition becomes a success regardless. This does not change the aim of the project, but only the scope, and slightly the methodology.

The distance paddled and the time spent on the water naturally affects the number of samples collected with the trawl. I have been experimenting with different trawl times, and with the current setup it seems that an hour provides a good sample size. This will change with a different trawl size, as the different sized net will fill up with sea grass and other debris in different amounts of time. Once the net is full, it has to be changed, so that trawling can continue. The amount of time it takes to fill the net is dependent on the conditions of the area. If there’s a lot of organic material present in the surface water (such as creepy jellyfish), the net fills faster. This means that it’s not possible to give a set time for trawling, but rather a time range, the lower end of which should be possible in most areas, while longer trawling times can be done in others. As such, it takes some paddling time to find the right balance, and every kilometer paddled is important to test the method thoroughly.

Experiences from Turning Plans into Actions

This expedition has been actively underway for just over a week, and in that time I have seen just how well my plans and lists translate to actions. I’m no stranger to planning trips and projects, but this is a different magnitude to what I have done before. What I have noticed in particular on the days I’ve been sailing, is how many small details seem obvious when I’m sitting at my computer, writing lists, but are actually points of stress and doubt when out in the field. What I have realised from the first week of working on this is that nothing should be taken for granted, and that “I’ll figure that out when I get to it” should be a banned expression.

I’ve been continuously working on the processes and workflows I use when sailing and collecting samples, and they have become more and more detailed the more I think about them. That means that when I’m in the situation, I have less to think about. This is especially important when I have to do things from the kayak: I’ve found that multitasking while keeping my balance in waves and not drifting too far from shore is, well, harder than I thought. When kayaking, you’re as close to the water and the weather as you can get without jumping in and swimming, and that closeness is undoubtedly exhilarating. It is also incredibly demanding, and diverting attention to any other task than simply remaining in control of the situation is hard.

So, when I first launched my trawl and had to adjust it and later reeled it in and reattached it to the side of the kayak, I drifted several hundred meters and almost capsized. The physics of a kayak also mean that when you stop paddling and let the vessel drift, it turns into the wind and takes a lot of strength to get back on course. This is exactly why processes are important, and why I need to have already thought through the tasks before having to do them.

Agile Processes and the Illusion of Perfection

The ability to adapt and make changes where necessary is one of the cornerstones of a successful project, and that also ties in to the need for perfection. I am prone to that myself: wanting what I do to work the first time around, and wanting to have everything figured out by the time I start. As I was planning this and getting closer to the first sailing day, I knew that I would not feel ready when I launched my kayak for the first time, or when I put the trawl in the water for the first time. Now that I’ve gotten past the first week, I’m full of excitement and positivity for the months ahead, even if I still don’t feel quite ready as I paddle away from the beach. There’s always more preparation to do. There’s always more research and reading, and the time is never truly right. Imperfection is not a weakness: it’s the drive and the courage it takes to act.

Over and out,

Tia W.

Overnight Camping and Jellyfish Mishaps

Sunday, July 5th 2020

Paddling out from shore to open water, the wind pushed foam-topped waves over my deck. The wind picked up as I got further away from the shallows, and as I rounded the first rocky outcrop, I lost all shelter from the west wind which will accompany me most of the summer. Shifting between stabilising in waves with the paddle and pushing forward, I slowly made my way towards the inlet that was my destination for the day.

I launched the trawl after half an hour, this time trawling a couple meters behind the kayak on a long rope to eliminate issues with drag and to simplify my setup. The current kept the trawl to the side of kayak and out of its wake. I sailed past a large fishing area indicated with buoys, and reached my waypoint: the tip of an isthmus, directly opposite the northern edge of the inlet I was aiming for. The stretch around the rocks into the inlet began with perfect shelter from the wind for a few hundred meters, and a gorgeous view of a tree-covered cliffside. I stopped paddling for a few minutes to listen to the birds and soak in the early evening sun before braving the wind again.

Paddling across the small inlet and finding the camp spot along the shore took the better part of an hour, and once I had the kayak safely on the sand, I realised I had not, indeed, found my camp spot. I went on a recon mission in the area to scope out where the alleged camp spot was, looking for a firepit as an indicator, as I had read should be there when I researched my route. Nothing. A while and some googling later I found the camp spot, a circle of mowed lawn nicely surrounded by tall reeds and only a few meters from the beach - five hundred meters away from where I had landed my kayak. Cold and wet as I was, I did not want to get into the boat and paddle over there, but instead got the idea to tie my trawl rope to the kayak and walk next to the water while floating it behind me.

This is a perfect example of something that seems like a great idea, but turns out… not to be. I did succeed in my endeavour, but not before I had waded through reeds and almost lost hold of the rope as the kayak floated away from me. In hindsight, I should have just paddled that short distance instead of insisting to stay on land. The more you know.

I set up camp and put the net from my trawl in a sample bag, and sat down to boil some water for dinner. As I sat outside my tent wrapped in my sleeping bag and watched the moon rise, the wind died off, and the quiet settled in around me. Slight breezes through the reeds punctuated my dinner and the glass of wine I had brought to enjoy on my first night camping from my kayak.

Successful Trawling, and Arriving in Skive Harbour

Day two started early after a cold night in the tent. It was a beautiful morning, and I couldn’t help smiling as I packed up the kayak and headed out of the inlet. The water was calm, and the wind hadn’t picked up for the day yet. The peace lasted until I rounded the bank just south of the inlet: after that, the wind whipped the water into foamy rolls washing over me, and made hard work of getting to my halfway rest point. The wind was strong around me as I landed on the small beach, but even that could not take away from looking across the water at the cliffs and having some well-deserved lunch. After the break, I launched the kayak and the trawl, and made for Skive Harbour, the end point of the trip.

It was a long, arduous afternoon. Paddling directly into the wind, waves crashing on my bow, I was sure my arms would quit as I got the harbour in sight. Somehow, the last distance seems the longest, especially when you can see the destination. I paddled on.

A couple hours later, I was at the entryway to the harbour, and reeled in my trawl. The net was mostly full, and had trawled very successfully on this stretch. On the first day, the net had gotten caught on the pontoons, but on the second day, the net was free of the trawl, and the trawl itself stayed upright even in the waves.

Rounding the wavebreak into the harbour, I felt as though every part of my body hurt, and lifting the kayak onto the car was a challenge in itself. All of that became secondary once I had some dry clothes on and got into the car for the ride home to Aalborg: the first overnight trip of the summer was complete, and I was already looking forward to the next one - perhaps with a warmer sleeping bag.

Processing the Samples, and Next Steps

When I got to processing the samples at home, I was (more than) slightly mortified to find a jellyfish in one of the nets. Now, I’m not squeamish, but I have… a problem with jellyfish. Which is not the best thing to be uncomfortable with when doing this project. Let me say that I overcame my sudden urge to never look at the ocean again, and bravely removed the jellyfish from the net using two pairs of tweezers. Worked surprisingly well for its jellified composition.

That interlude aside, the sample processing went rather smoothly using the 5Gyres protocol for sample processing. I had a lot of seagrass in the samples, and spent a while removing it with tweezers after rinsing the contents of the net into a sieve. I found a couple particles in each sample which appeared to be plastic, but did not find any large pieces or plastic.

On this trip, I collected one sample per day, as I kayaked relatively short distances. The next development to the method I’m working on is a spool and mount system inspired by kayak fishing to ease handling the trawl from the kayak, as well as building a larger trawl. With the trawl behind the kayak, it’s possible to use a bigger device, which will improve sample size.

The next week or so, the weather is looking pretty grim with gale force winds, rain, and generally inhospitable conditions for kayaking - hopefully it’ll clear up enough towards the end of the week to get out on the water.

Over and out,

Tia W.

Field Research from a Sea Kayak

Wednesday, July 1st 2020

When you think about adventure, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Images of polar explorers, perhaps. Or scientists trudging through a dense jungle. Maybe it’s extreme sports and the thrill of leaping out of a plane, trusting that the air will catch you.

What these things have in common are their pathos: the feeling they invoke, the smile they put on your face, and that magnetic combination of awe and apprehension.

Expedition science has notes of the romantic, to me. It’s the smell of the tropics as the sun rises, the feel of the armchair in a library with shelves strewn with stories from faraway lands, and it’s the unabashed joy of discovery. Current science and field work is full of sophisticated equipment and complex software, and our range in research and expeditions today has expanded since the days of Darwin and Humboldt. The cornerstones of it, however, remain the same. Discovery, exploration, and adventure.

This project came from those three principles. I have been an adventurer at heart since I was little. The love of science has been a constant in my life as well, and the combination of the two was inevitable. In a way, this project came about accidentally. I was going to sail in the Tall Ships Races this summer, and when that was cancelled, I knew I had to find a different project to dedicate myself to. It hit me one night as I was going to sleep.

I was going to sail around my local fjord in a sea kayak, collecting data on microplastic in the water.

Opportunities to Improve from the First Expedition Day

This expedition has been in the works for a couple of months, and is made up of ten trips of a few days each during July and August: its purpose is to develop a microplastic trawl system that’s easy to use from a sea kayak and accessible to citizen scientists, and to survey Limfjorden in Denmark for microplastic using that system.

The first of those ten trips was completed on Monday - that trip highlighted the challenges and issues with the method, and was an exciting and important milestone. This project, which seemed farfetched at first, is coming together. It’s real. This is a time of excitement and energy: it’s a fantastic place to be, and has that feeling of awe and apprehension.

The first day on the water was a paddling trip from Skiveren to Hals in the eastern part of the fjord, a trip of 13 km. The weather was windy but dry, and the water threw strong currents and shallow areas at me. Plenty of sea grass and jellyfish accompanied me on most of the trip, and may also have startled me a few times by getting caught on the paddle.

After about an hour and a half, I launched the trawl to collect the first samples. Now, that’s where the difficulty really began.

The trawl is based on the babylegs trawl developed by Civic Laboratory in Newfoundland, and is a very small trawl well suited for hand-propelled vessels. It’s made with simple materials, which is also a part of the aim of this project: to develop a system that’s easy to use from a kayak and accessible to citizen scientists. The design of the trawl will change throughout the summer, and I expect to build several different versions. On this trip, the trawl was attached to the front of the kayak using a wooden pole to keep it out of the paddling range and also trawl out of the wake of the vessel.

Once the trawl was launched, the main problem was the drag it caused. The pole, fitted with a pulley system to be able to control it from the cockpit of the kayak, could not stay extended because of the drag. Unfortunately, this meant that it was not possible to collect adequate samples during this trip. On future trips, I will experiment with the placement and the design of the trawl, and work towards the final system.

Curiosity, Citizen Science, and Plastic Pollution

There’s nine more trips to go for this expedition, and I’m both excited about the experimental side of the project, the development of the method, and the sailing itself. This is an exploration of what is possible from a sea kayak in scientific research, and the end result is not set in stone. I want to make it possible for kayakers with an interest in plastic pollution to collect data in the areas where they paddle, and be a part of protecting our beautiful ocean. I want to learn about the extent of plastic pollution in the fjord I see when I walk through my hometown every day. And I want to encourage everyone who follows along on this journey to look around with a curious and inquisitive mind, and ask themselves: what can I discover?

Over and out,

Tia W.