Great Lakes

U of T Trash Team and PortsToronto battle plastic pollution in Lake Ontario

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 13:57:53 +0000

U of T Trash Team and PortsToronto battle plastic pollution in Lake Ontario

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 02/18/2021 - 08:57

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U of T Assistant Professor Chelsea Rochman and Chris Sawicki, PortsToronto's vice-president of infrastructure, planning and environment, at the launch of the Seabins pilot in the Toronto Harbour in 2019 (all photos courtesy of Chelsea Rochman)

Sarah MacFarlane

Topic

Our Community

Cities

Faculty of Arts & Science

Great Lakes

Plastics

Sustainability

Water

It’s a collaboration founded on a shared vision: a cleaner future for Toronto’s waterways.

Chelsea Rochman’s lab at the ��Ƶ is committed to reducing aquatic waste in Toronto by exploring innovative litter-capturing technologies and engaging the public on the issue of plastic pollution.

In her search for partners who shared her vision of a cleaner future for Toronto’s waterways, it wasn’t long before Rochman encountered PortsToronto – a government-business enterprise that owns and operates Billy Bishop Airport, the Port of Toronto and the Outer Harbour Marina.

Key collaborators from PortsToronto with the U of T Trash Team at the Urban Litter Challenge community cleanup in 2019.

With its goal of protecting and preserving Toronto’s waterfront by supporting sustainable transportation infrastructure, marine safety, environmental protection and community programming, PortsToronto has been an active supporter of the U of T Trash Team, a group of students and volunteers who focus on engaging the public and decreasing plastic pollution through a variety of programs, including litter cleanups and sustainability workshops.

PortsToronto even made a $150,000 donation to the Rochman lab last year.

“We've gotten closer every year and started working together in more capacities,” says Rochman, who joined the department of ecology and evolutionary biology in the Faculty of Arts & Science as assistant professor in 2017.

“PortsToronto staff come to our cleanups every year. Now, we're talking about further things we can do together down the road to continue to get litter out of the water and also communicate with the public.”

The U of T Trash Team was founded by Rochman, who serves as head of operations and program lead of scientific programming and application; Susan Debreceni, program lead of volunteer engagement and community programs; and Rafaela Gutierrez, program lead of social science and educational programs.

Cassy Sherlock quantifying and characterizing microplastics trapped in macrophytes captured in the Seabins at the Outer Harbour Marina in summer 2020.

“The year 2021 marks the 110th anniversary of our organization and more than a century of PortsToronto’s stewardship of our city’s great waterfront,” says Geoffrey Wilson, CEO of PortsToronto. “In tandem with our own sustainability efforts, collaborating with the U of T Trash Team was a natural step for us in our ongoing mission to preserve and protect the waters of the Toronto Harbour for future generations.

“Lending our partnership, support and infrastructure to this dedicated team of researchers has, and will continue to, lead to innovative, evidence-based solutions to tackle the serious issue of plastic pollution in waterways here at home and throughout the Great Lakes.”

One strategy for reducing aquatic pollution is the use of floating trash bins called Seabins, which can collect more than four kilograms of waste per day – as much as 1.4 metric tonnes per year – including debris and microplastics as tiny as two millimetres in size. Seabins are a crucial aspect of the partnership between the U of T Trash Team and PortsToronto.

“PortsToronto owns and operates the Seabins,” says Rochman. “The U of T Trash Team does research in Lake Ontario to inform where in the Toronto Harbour would be useful to have Seabins, and then we quantify and characterize the impact – how much debris we're capturing and what type of debris it is, which can be used to inform policy.”

Small microplastic pieces entrained in macrophytes captured by the Seabins in the Outer Harbour Marina in summer 2020.

In the summer of 2019, PortsToronto launched two of their Seabins in Toronto’s Outer Harbour Marina and the U of T Trash Team studied the results. In just 19 hours, the bins collected nearly 2,000 pieces of plastic, many of which were less than five millimetres in size.

While the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the full-scale launch of the Seabins last year, the U of T Trash Team and PortsToronto persevered and ultimately piloted three Seabins at the Outer Harbour Marina.

“Within the three bins we captured hundreds to thousands of pieces of small debris every week,” Rochman says. “We also did visual audits where we had people from our team walking along the harbour and looking at where there were hotspots of litter accumulation within the slips. And that informs where the Seabins can go next year.

“We also standardized our protocols for how we quantify the debris. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out the best method that can be shared with other people who are also tracking litter so that we can all have standardized data. Those methods are being used by people as far away as California and Vancouver.”

Small microplastic pieces entrained in macrophytes captured by the Seabins in the Outer Harbour Marina in summer 2020.

The team even created an app called Data Trapper, which allows users to test methods and share their data.

Rochman says PortsToronto’s recent gift has helped the U of T Trash Team build a foundation by allowing them to transition volunteers to full-time paid positions – and that the support of PortsToronto has had a profound impact on the U of T Trash Team since they first began working together in 2017.

“They believed in us,” Rochman says. “They gave us that confidence to build who we are.”

It’s just the beginning. Rochman says she’s looking forward to what PortsToronto and the U of T Trash Team will be able to accomplish together in the future.

“We hope to increase our impact in the harbour, increase awareness and try to spread the litter diversion beyond the Toronto Harbour,” she says. “We plan to have four Seabins along the waterfront that are actively trapping and diverting litter out of Lake Ontario. We also plan to do a design competition with PortsToronto to think about the type of technology that could be placed near the mouth of the Don River to divert the litter that's coming in from upstream. And then raising awareness and increasing waste literacy among the public is one of our main goals to share lessons learned more broadly.”

U of T, University of Illinois form partnership to enhance global leadership of Great Lakes region

geoff.vendeville — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 18:54:25 +0000

U of T, University of Illinois form partnership to enhance global leadership of Great Lakes region

geoff.vendeville Fri, 10/30/2020 - 14:54

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The Great Lakes Higher Education Consortium will focus on socioeconomic and environmental issues in a bid to secure the region’s long-term competitiveness, development and sustainability (photo by UniversalImagesGroup via Getty Images)

Topic

Research & Innovation

Sustainability

United States

The ��Ƶ and University of Illinois System are partnering with a binational network of organizations to launch a cross-border education consortium that aims to spur innovation, collaboration and long-term growth in the Great Lakes region.

Administered by the Council of the Great Lakes Region, the Great Lakes Higher Education Consortium will focus on regionally significant socioeconomic and environmental issues in a bid to help secure the region’s long-term competitiveness, development and sustainability.

The partners will also seek to engage businesses and governments on both sides of the border.

“Our institutions, our local regions and our countries are facing some major economic, social and environmental challenges, but also opportunities,” said U of T President Meric Gertler during a Zoom ceremony Thursday that included the signing of a memorandum of understanding.

“By working with each other, and with our partners in business and government, we can meet these challenges and seize these opportunities for our mutual benefit – and it is more important than ever that we do so.”

The virtual meeting was attended by senior leaders at the Council of the Great Lakes Region, the University of Illinois System and past and present U.S. diplomats, including Susan Crystal, who was recently appointed consul general in Toronto. The meeting also featured a message by Vic Fedeli, Ontario’s minister of economic development, job creation and trade.

The Great Lakes region is an economic engine for both Canada and the United States. It’s home to 57 of Fortune magazine’s Global 500 companies and more than eight million small and medium-sized businesses.

Like U of T, the University of Illinois System is one of the world’s top ranked public research universities and plays a major role in the region’s economic vitality. The state’s largest educational system contributes US$17.5 billion to the Illinois economy each year. Its graduates helped develop air conditioning, LED lighting and MRI technology, and founded such companies as PayPal and eBay, said President Timothy Killeen.

“Just imagine the possibilities when the University of Illinois partners with the ��Ƶ and raises the banner for our region, to which will flock many other research-intensive universities,” Killeen said.

A virtual meeting was attended by senior leaders at the Council of the Great Lakes Region, the University of Illinois System and past and present U.S. diplomats, including Susan Crystal, who was recently appointed consul general in Toronto. The meeting also featured a message by Vic Fedeli, Ontario’s minister of economic development, job creation and trade.

The formation of a partnership between universities in the Great Lakes region was one of the key recommendations of a report by the Council of the Great Lakes Region, co-written by John Austin, director of the Michigan Economic Center and a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

The report says that, by banding together, regional universities can better address local talent gaps, create a hub for applied science and innovation and build bridges between university assets such as business incubators and accelerators.

“By launching the binational Great Lakes Higher Education Consortium, the stage is set for positioning the region as a global leader in producing the talent of the future, solving global challenges through innovation and supporting a new generation of entrepreneurs that will transform the region and drive commerce,” Mark Fisher, president and CEO of the council, said in a statement.

The new academic consortium will foster even greater cross-border collaboration between Great Lakes universities, government and business, said Crystal, the U.S. consul general in Toronto, who described the partnership as “a vital step towards developing relationships that are necessary to solve global challenges.

“By anchoring a cross-border initiative through academic partnerships in the Great Lakes region, we are also directly supporting the economic well-being of both of our countries.”

Project led by U of T researcher to target at-risk fish in lower Great Lakes

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 21:09:58 +0000

Project led by U of T researcher to target at-risk fish in lower Great Lakes

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 08/18/2020 - 17:09

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The research and habitat recovery project will target 13 fish and eight freshwater mussel species that are currently at risk in the lower Great Lakes watershed (photo by LANDSAT via Getty Images)

Don Campbell

Topic

Our Community

Great Lakes

Research & Innovation

Sustainability

U of T Scarborough

A research and habitat recovery project led by a ��Ƶ researcher aims to help fish and freshwater mussel species that are currently at risk of going extinct.

The project, which received a $1.8 million grant from the federal government, will target 13 fish and eight freshwater mussel species that are currently at risk in the lower Great Lakes watershed.

“The main threat to these species is habitat degradation and loss – all of which have come as a result of human activity,” says project lead Nick Mandrak, a professor in U of T Scarborough’s department of biological sciences.

“For recovery efforts to be successful, we need to fully understand the specific habitat requirements and the habitat threats for these species at risk.”

The lower Great Lakes watershed, home to countless different aquatic species and habitats across the Greater Toronto Area and southwestern Ontario, currently has 32 fish and 15 mussel species that are considered at risk of extinction. These species are found in a variety of habitats including streams, large rivers, wetlands and lakes.

Mandrak says the main threats to aquatic habitats are increasing water temperatures related to climate change and resulting lower oxygen levels, high levels of chloride from road salt, as well as increased murkiness, also known as turbidity, caused by sediments suspended in the water.

He says the conversion of land to agricultural and urban use over the past 150 years is a key driver of the changes.

“We have these flooding events in urban areas because rain is no longer soaked up by the soil – it hits pavement and runs directly into streams,” says Mandrak, an expert on aquatic biodiversity.

“What you end up having is long periods where streams are relatively dry followed by intense flooding and this wreaks havoc on aquatic habitats.”

Fertilizer is also a major contributor to water pollution in the form of increased nitrogen and phosphorous, adds Mandrak. Phosphorus is specifically responsible for the toxic blue-green algae blooms found in Lake Erie.

The Blackstripe Topminnow is one of the fish species at risk (photo by Ohio Sea Grant)

The fish at risk range from Blackstripe Topminnow to Warmouth. They are all smaller species, but nevertheless play a crucial role in the food chain and overall ecosystem health, says Mandrak. Freshwater mussels also play a critical role in filtering out bacteria, algae and pollutants, he says.

“Many of these species have been ignored or neglected and that’s a big reason why we’re interested in them. We should be interested in the diversity of species that are important to the proper functioning of our freshwater ecosystems.”

In addition to studying the habitat requirements for these species, Mandrak and the other project partners will study the availability of suitable habitats as well as physically restore some habitats. They will also enhance some populations where needed and develop captive-breeding methods to help specific species rebound in the wild.

The grant from Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Canada Nature Fund For Aquatic Species At Risk will be distributed over four years. Partners on the project include Walpole Island First Nation, University of Windsor, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, Ontario Streams, Ontario Nature, Nature Conservancy of Canada and McGill University.

Asian grass carp pose ecological threat to Great Lakes: U of T scientist part of Canadian-American research team

ullahnor — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 20:10:56 +0000

Asian grass carp pose ecological threat to Great Lakes: U of T scientist part of Canadian-American research team

ullahnor Fri, 01/27/2017 - 15:10

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U of T biologist Nick Mandrak says that while not all invasive species have a high ecological impact, grass carp are voracious eaters, capable of consuming 40 per cent of their body weight per day (photo by Ken Jones)

Don Campbell

Author legacy

Don Campbell

Topic

Asian grass carp pose a significant ecological threat to the Great Lakes and that threat could be extreme over the next 50 years.

This is the major finding of a large binational risk assessment authored by a team of American and Canadian researchers, including Nick Mandrak, associate professor of biological sciences at U of T Scarborough.

“We don’t want grass carp in the Great Lakes, and we need to act now in order to eradicate the population in the Sandusky River,” says Mandrak, referring to the grass carp population already spawning in the Sandusky River in Ohio, which is connected to Lake Erie.

The peer-reviewed study, led by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and coordinated by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, has researchers from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, U of T, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Mandrak himself has conducted risk assessments on silver and big head carp in the past and also authored the first Canadian risk assessment of Asian carp in 2004 when he worked at Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

He says while not all invasive species have a high ecological impact, grass carp are different. For one, they’re voracious eaters, capable of consuming 40 per cent of their body weight per day. As a result, they can grow quite large, up to 30 cm long in their first year of life, meaning they have no natural predators in the Great Lakes. They also produce a lot of eggs, which means even in the short period of time when they can be eaten by larger fish, there are often too many to make a dent in their numbers.

And if you think a cold Canadian climate will deter them, think again. Mandrak has done field research on grass carp living in Siberian lakes covered by more than a metre of ice.

A joint American and Canadian report co-authored by U of T Scarborough Associate Professor Nick Mandrak finds that grass carp pose a significant threat to the Great Lakes. (Photo courtesy of the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee)

Grass carp were first introduced to North America from Asia as bio-control agents in the 1960s. They were brought in specifically to control aquatic vegetation like weeds growing in aquaculture ponds mostly used by the channel catfish industry.

“Unfortunately, they escaped from those controlled environments into the wild either by floods or through being released on purpose,” says Mandrak.

Since then, they’ve migrated up the Mississippi River into the Great Lakes region where they are reproducing in the Sandusky River. Grass carp have already been found in Lakes Michigan, Erie and Ontario.

The concern is that since fish don’t obey borders, there’s nothing preventing them from entering Canadian waters. Once there, Mandrak says grass carps could severely decimate wetlands, which are important spawning habitats for native fish.

“We need to be concerned because we share the Great Lakes, and the economic impacts would be significant especially when you look at commercial fishing and tourism,” he says.

Mandrak points to one aquatic system in South Africa where 13 of the 14 aquatic species of vegetation were destroyed within two years of grass carp being introduced.

He adds we’re at the point early in the invasion curve where grass carp populations can be eradicated if rapid response is taken. If not, we could end up with scenarios from the past like sea lampreys and zebra mussels, two species that upended the ecology of the Great Lakes.

“This study organizes a lot of the information we know about grass carp and the risk they pose to the Great Lakes,” Mandrak says. “Now we need to figure out what next steps can be taken to manage the problem.”