The project provides a comprehensive and valuable use of the frozen organs archives available at NOAA

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) awarded $133,332 to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego under the Marine Mammal Data Program (CFDA 11.439) for the period of October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026. This Project Grant supports comprehensive analysis of frozen organ archives maintained by NOAA to establish baseline data on microplastics contamination in marine mammals and assess potential health impacts from microplastics exposure. The project leverages existing stranding operation data and NOAA's network of preserved biological samples to investigate correlations between microplastics presence and illness etiology in marine mammals.

The deliverables address multiple program priorities under the Prescott Program framework, including development of a microplastics assay methodology to improve marine mammal health diagnostics, enhanced detection of illness causes potentially related to microplastics exposure, and public outreach and education materials emphasizing human societal impacts on marine ecosystems. The research outputs will provide critical data for understanding habitat threats and human interaction effects on marine mammal populations while establishing foundational analytical tools and frameworks for future microplastics research within the marine mammal conservation and health monitoring context.

The project will address multiple priorities of the prescott program, especially priority #1 in relation to the analyses of data collected from stranding operations over the years (such analysis could also expand to the NOAA network of preserved samples) and as such help provide baseline data on microplastics reflective of human interaction and habitat threats specifically. The project will also address priority #1B by improving detection of illness etiology (which could possibly be related to microplastics). Priority #4 will be critical to provide a solid framework for outreach and education to a variety of outlets, particularly #4A providing outreach to educate public about effect of human society on the oceans and marine mammals in particular (with emphasis on microplastics). Priority #6B will be addressed since this project will provide the fundamental tools to develop a microplastics assay to improve the etiology of marine mammal health.