VANCOUVER - Water samples from off the B.C. coast have found up to about 9,200 particles of plastic per cubic metre, the director of a new ocean pollution program at the Vancouver Aquarium said Tuesday.

Based on 34 water samples taken between inshore waters and 1,200 kilometres due west of Victoria, the concentrations of microplastics — pieces typically the size of a coffee ground — were found to increase in proximity to the mainland coast.

Microplastics can be ingested by plankton, invertebrates and other marine life forming the base of the food chain; ingestion of plastics may make organisms think they are full, causing them to starve.

“There is extensive contamination of sea water by microplastics,” confirmed Peter Ross, a former research scientist with the federal Institute of Ocean Sciences in Sidney on Vancouver Island. “It raises the questions: where are they coming from and do they pose a threat to the food web? This will remain a priority for the aquarium.”

The situation could worsen as small plastic particles from the Japanese earthquake in 2011 continue to drift to B.C. waters.

Due to geography and currents, Queen Charlotte Sound off northeastern Vancouver Island recorded the highest levels of microplastics at a mean 7,630 particles per cubic metre — with an overall study high of 9,180 particles.

That compares with a mean 3,210 particles per cubic metre of water in the Strait of Georgia, 1,710 on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and 279 in offshore waters of the open Northeast Pacific, where the lowest sample had just eight particles.

The study, with lead author Jean-Pierre Desforges, a graduate student at the University of Victoria’s School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, has just been published in the scientific journal Marine Pollution Bulletin.

Samples taken by the Canadian Coast Guard ship John P. Tully in 2012 showed a mean particle size of 606 micrometers. About 75 per cent of particles were fragments and fibres derived from the deterioration of larger products, perhaps from colourful textiles such as acrylics released during laundry.

Ross said he worked almost 18 years at the Institute of Ocean Sciences until the federal Fisheries Department announced in May 2012 it would cut 55 positions nationally, nine of them within B.C., as part of a plan to “divest itself of ocean pollution research and monitoring to the private, non-profit and academic sectors.”

The layoffs took effect as late as August 2013 at estimated cost saving of about $12-million nationally, he said.

“It’s not easy to turn on the light ... to build up a laboratory and a field program and assemble a team of experts. It all takes time and investment of money and energy. But it’s quite easy to turn out the light.”

Over the years, the B.C. researchers discovered that southern resident killer whales in the Salish Sea are the most polluted marine mammals on Earth. They also studied harbour seals as indicators of marine pollution, emerging threats such as flame retardants, hydrocarbons and pesticides, and the impact of pesticides on Fraser River sockeye salmon.

“The federal government put an axe to our efforts,” Ross said. “It’s kind of embarrassing. Canadians expect someone to be looking out for concerns in the ocean.”

The Vancouver Aquarium has responded by hiring Ross to head its new ocean pollution science program. A full-time technician will also be hired and a lab established. “I am heartened that the Aquarium has stepped up to the plate,” he said, noting the program will carry on with his past work in collaboration with universities and graduate students.

lpynn@vancouversun.com