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Four JPI Oceans microplastics projects present their final results

How does plastic degrade in the ocean? What effects does it have on the organisms and ecosystems? Do particles carry other pollutants? And how to standardise the way we study microplastics? The four JPI Oceans funded projects present their results in their final reports.

Four JPI Oceans microplastics projects present their final results

  • 26 November 2019

How does plastic degrade in the ocean? What effects does it have on the organisms and ecosystems? Do particles carry other pollutants? And how to standardise the way we study microplastics? The four JPI Oceans funded projects present their results in their final reports.

Four JPI Oceans microplastics projects present their final results

An overview of the final reports can be found below:

  • BASEMAN - Defining the baselines and standards for microplastics analyses in European waters – Report
  • EPHEMARE  - Ecotoxicological effects of microplastics in marine ecosystems – Report
  • PLASTOX - Direct and indirect ecotoxicological impacts of microplastics on marine organisms – Report
  • WEATHER-MIC - How microplastic weathering changes its transport, fate and toxicity in the marine environment – Report


The four research projects were launched by ten Member Countries of JPI Oceans after a joint call for proposals on microplastics was opened with an overall budget of approx. €7.5m. The projects were selected for funding from 31 December 2015 for a period of 36 months. Through these research projects the knowledge about the analysis, weathering and, ecotoxicological effects of microplastics in the marine environment has been substantially improved. These research projects have substantially improved the knowledge about the analysis, weathering and ecotoxicological effects of microplastics in the marine environment. But not all relevant questions have been addressed in the four earlier projects, leading to a second joint call for transnational research projects.

As a result of this second call, five new JPI Oceans projects will embark conducting research on sources of microplastics and looking into analytical methods for identifying smaller micro- and (nano-) plastics. The projects will also focus on monitoring and mapping of microplastics in the ocean including its effects on the marine environment.