A comparison of sampling methods for seawater microplastics and a first report of the microplastic litter in coastal waters of Ascension and Falkland Islands

To date there is no gold standard for sampling microplastics. Zooplankton sampling methods, such as plankton and Neuston nets, are commonly used to estimate the concentrations of microplastics in seawater, but their ability to detect microplastics is limited by their mesh size. We compared different net-based sampling methods with different mesh sizes including bongo nets (>500 μm), manta nets (>300 μm) and plankton nets (>200 μm and >400 μm) to...