Research Proposal Presentation Title

Revealing the plastic policy that gathers the most social support regarding salmon protection

Student researchers

Bruce Xie

Jacob Fang

Kay Wang

Jiya Saini

What is your research question?

Which type of plastic policy regarding the protection of salmon gains the widest acceptance among

Vancouver citizens

Research proposal keywords or concepts

Microplastic reduction

Salmon protection

Attitudes

How would you summarize your proposed research idea?

In our research proposal, we aim to gather the attitudes from 3 different groups (non-environmentalists, environmentalists, and fisheries) on 4 different policies (Educational projects about environmental protection, Banning plastic completely, Raising tax on single-use plastic, and Charging plastic bag in shopping market).

The result assumption: If one or some policies are with high support rate from all the three groups, then this or these policies may be the most effective policies to protect Vancouver salmon from the unknown effects of microplastic.

Where is the literature gap and how does your proposed research attempt to fill that gap?

A large and growing body of literature has investigated the effect of microplastic on humans and some marine creatures. However, only a few studies have explored which plastic policy could have the highest public support rate. To investigate the policy with the highest supportive rate, a quantitative method will be used in our study.

Why is this gap worthy of research?

This project provided an opportunity to advance the understanding of microplastic and find the plastic

policy that gathers the greatest social cohesion in the mission of reducing microplastic emissions.

What future change could this research possibly contribute to, related to sustainability?

One important contribution of this study will be to produce a sustainable plastic policy for coastal cities like Vancouver. What is more, this sustainable plastic policy is expected to create a more sustainable life for the salmon population.

What made your group interested in and/or what excites you about your proposed topic?

Our concern for the BC economy was the main reason that made us do this research. After living in Vancouver for one and half years, we found that marine creatures play a significant role in economic growth, especially salmon. Therefore, if the increase in the emission of microplastic could potentially result in a reduction in the salmon population, the consequence will be a big shock to the BC economy.

References

Ross, P., & Noel, M. (n.d.). Microplastic in coastal British Columbia. Retrieved from: https://oceanwatch.ca/bccoast/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2018/10/OceanWatch-BC Coast-microplastics.pdf

BC Dairy Association. (2014, p. 10). BC At The Table: Salmon. Retrieved from:

https://www.bcaitc.ca/sites/default/files/resources/salmon_teacher_guide.pdf

Diggle, A., & Walker, T. R. (2020). Implementation of harmonized extended producer responsibility strategies to incentivize recovery of single-use plastic packaging waste in canada. Waste Management, 110, 20-23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2020.05.013