NIVA and Inspiria Science Center Collaborate to Educate High School Students on Marine Litter through Citizen Science Activities on Oslofjord

On board the M/S Ny Vigra III, puting the Manta trawl together with Inspiria staff.

NIVA staff worked closely together with the Inspiria Science Center to organise Citizen Science activities related to marine litter for high school classes. Inspiria takes out more than 100 school classes every year on the Oslo fjord to inform the students on the ecological state of the Oslofjord. This year also the subject of marine litter will be included in the program. On the 23^rd of March NIVA staff joined the preparations for the teachers 2023 program on the M/S Ny Vigra III and instructed the teachers on how to use a Mantatrawl to collect marine litter. The smartphone plastic NIR scanner developed during Nautilos project for the identification of the different plastic polymers was also introduced to the teachers. Teaching material from the Plastic Pirates project was adapted to be used on Oslofjord for the integration of the smartphone NIR scanner, which will allow the students to directly and on-site analyse marine litter that they will gather by themselves. Further activities will follow in April.