NESP MaC Project 1.18: Microplastics in South-Eastern Australian Coastal Waters, 2021-2022

A synthesis of current knowledge on microplastics in the coastal waters of South-Eastern Australia, identifying key data gaps. The project compiled an inventory of existing microplastics studies and produced a final report synthesizing information on presence, sources, and pathways. The work was conducted by the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub in 2021-2022 and contributed to a standard operating procedure for marine microplastics sampling.

Use Cases

• Identify geographic and methodological gaps in microplastics research based on the compiled inventory of existing studies.
• Inform policy and management actions to curb plastic pollution based on the synthesis of occurrence, sources, and pathways.
• Guide future coordinated research efforts based on the identified critical needs for methodological harmonization, source identification, and ecological risk evidence.
• Support the development of standardized sampling protocols based on the project's foundational work for a field manual.

Strengths

• Synthesis is informed by stakeholder engagement from government, research, and industry, defining shared priorities.
• Project output contributed directly to a published Standard Operating Procedure for marine microplastics sampling.
• Focuses on a defined geographic region: South-Eastern Australia (South Australia, Victoria, and New South Wales).

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

NESP Marine and Coastal Hub, Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Synthesis of existing studies and stakeholder engagement.

Time Range

2021-2022

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-04 14:33:33.722167; freshness should be verified

Geography

South-Eastern Australia (coastal waters of South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales)