Nunatsiavut Plastics Pollution Data-NG-CLEAR

This study uses Inuit hunter and fisher-based sampling design for researching plastic ingestion by species important to community members as sources of wild food in Nunatsiavut. Community-based monitoring is important to Inuit and Northern communities. It gives us the power, knowledge, and control over what research we want to do and see in the North. While plastic pollution is a global issue, plastic profiles can differ significantly from place to place and specific concerns about plastics and approaches to plastic research in Inuit Nunangat are a community affair.Nunatsiavummuit already know there is plastic in the environment and are concerned about its presence--Nain was one of the first places in Canada to create a plastic bag ban in 2009. We are now building a bird's eye view of the different types of plastics, especially microplastics; how they are distributed in our foodways, lands, and waters place by place; how their concentrations and ingestion rates by wild food change by season; and which sources of plastics are most significant and available to change in our communities.