Our oceans have been under immense stress due to the deposition and accumulation of marine debris, of which 80% are plastics. Of these, microplastics which are small plastic fragments measuring less than five mm, have been a real bane to the marine fauna, especially the ornamental fishes inhabiting coral reef regions. The multibillion-dollar marine ornamental fish trade depends on these fishes caught from coral reefs. It has often been found that these small fishes are severely affected due to the choking of their gills with microplastics as they are natural filter feeders. To curb the load of plastics in the oceans, and especially in the waters around coral reefs, this study aims to develop a small-scale solution, which could later be scaled up by increasing the size and number of each unit as required. The system has been inspired by the filter-feeding mechanism of manta rays as a basic model for the filtration module. The use of a bacteria named Ideonella sakaiensis, which has been known to decompose plastics inherently is the second level of ideation that has gone into the design. The whole system has been envisaged as a floating system, where the filtration units would be submerged under water and the design of the platform over water would have a provision for self-sustenance, apart from the obvious role in maintaining buoyancy. Each filtration unit has been designed to possess multiple layers of sieving, vortexing and cross-flow filtration with a batch of I. sakaiensis at the end of the unit. To maintain a unidirectional flow of water, a fan would be placed at the end of these filtration units. This system can be a solution to the accumulation of plastics in a localized environment and can be scaled up in terms of size and the number of units to cover a greater area and volume to reduce the menace of plastic pollution. This could be a unique and cost-effective answer to the loss of marine fauna, more specifically ornamental fishes to the curse of microplastics.

由于海洋垃圾的沉积和积累，我们的海洋承受着巨大的压力，其中 80% 是塑料。其中，尺寸小于 5 毫米的塑料微粒是海洋动物群的真正祸根，尤其是栖息在珊瑚礁地区的观赏鱼。数十亿美元的海洋观赏鱼贸易依赖于这些从珊瑚礁捕获的鱼类。人们经常发现，这些小鱼由于是天然的滤食性动物，它们的鳃被微塑料堵塞，因此受到严重影响。为了减少海洋中塑料的负荷，特别是在珊瑚礁周围的水域，这项研究旨在开发一种小规模的解决方案，以后可以根据需要通过增加每个单元的大小和数量来扩大规模。该系统的灵感来自蝠鲼的滤食机制，作为过滤模块的基本模型。使用一种名为堺菜花，众所周知，它固有地分解塑料是设计中的第二级构思。整个系统被设想为一个浮动系统，过滤单元将被淹没在水下，而水上平台的设计除了在维持浮力方面的明显作用外，还将提供自我维持的功能。每个过滤单元都被设计成具有多层筛分、涡流和错流过滤，带有一批I. sakaiensis在单元的末尾。为了保持水的单向流动，将在这些过滤单元的末端放置一个风扇。该系统可以解决塑料在局部环境中的堆积问题，并且可以在尺寸和单元数量方面扩大规模，以覆盖更大的面积和体积，以减少塑料污染的威胁。这可能是解决海洋动物，更具体地说是观赏鱼因微塑料诅咒而消失的独特且具有成本效益的解决方案。