Week 1: A Dive Into My Research

Hello everyone, and welcome back to my blog! This week I began reading sources that focus on what research has already been conducted, how plastic enters the ocean, and its impacts on wildlife. During my research, I looked at popular areas that have large amounts of pollution that come from land such as resorts and tourist places. I was also looking at organizations that work along with the New York Aquarium, such as Seascape Shark Advocacy, which focuses on protecting sharks that could provide on why they run these protection organizations. I plan to continue using the sources I have available to figure out more of the impacts within the ocean reefs. When it comes to the impacts on the ecosystem, I’m planning to look into the impact of pollution on certain areas such as the food chain, species population, and reefs. With these areas in mind, it will give me a more direct area of where to focus my research and give me a bit more insight into what makes ocean life incredible and why we should conserve it from pollution. Beginning next week, when I start working at the aquarium as a Discovery Guide Educator, I will be able to share knowledge about why we should conserve the ocean by letting them see the wildlife that are below the ocean. Hopefully through educating visitors, it will help them to be more inspired or think about the oceans and their wildlife before more plastic gets into the ocean. I’ll also be looking at other sources but also organizations that work with NOAA and the Aquarium in order to see if there are more distinct circumstances that determine how much plastic is in an area based on characteristics such as weather, tourists, and ocean currents.