How much plastic is in New Jersey's water? Research group trawls NY/NJ harbors (PHOTOS)

ELIZABETH -- Peter Cangeloso and Frank Steimle wrestled the monster onto the deck of the small research boat, rocking gently on the Arthur Kill in a cold rain. Widemouthed with a head made of metal, the manta trawler was no trophy fish.

"Catch of the day," said Cangeloso, a boat captain with NY/NJ Baykeeper, holding up what looked like a dirty wind sock stuffed with debris after he pulled it from the trawler's mouth.

The two men were part of a small crew of researchers and volunteers who ventured out onto Newark Bay and down Arthur Kill this week to collect samples of the plastics polluting the shared waters of New York and New Jersey.

The trawler, on loan from the New York-based environmental group Clearwater, is designed to funnel floating debris into a narrow net so it can be tested at a laboratory at Monmouth University this summer.

The research project's goal is to measure the plastic content in the waters generally, but the group is also looking for specific ways to stem the flow of microplastics into regional waters.

A study released by the California-based 5 Gyres Institute in December found the world's oceans contain at least 5.25 trillion plastic particles, weighing 268,940 tons. Another study published in Science Magazine in February claimed as many as 8.8 million tons of plastic end up in the water worldwide every year.

Sandra Meola, an outreach associate with Baykeeper, said when plastics enter the water they start a journey that can often end in our guts.

"Instead of decomposing and biodegrading, all it's doing is shrinking into tiny, tiny pieces," Meola said. "Fish mistake those particles for food, fish eat them and they enter our food chain."

Those tiny pieces, called microplastics, can start out as coffee lids and plastic bags, but they also can come from personal hygiene products like tooth pastes and body washes, which for years have contained polyethylene "microbeads." Microbeads are so small that they can bypass the filtration systems of sewage treatment plants and end up in waterways.

A bill championed by Baykeeper and other groups that would ban the production and sale of products containing microbeads was signed by Gov. Chris Christie in March. But advocates say it contained a loophole that exempts beads made from "bioplastics," which are less harmful than polyethylene, but still a hazard.

"They can decompose, but only in municipal composting facilities under really high-heat temperatures," Meola said. "So (the law) is phasing out one kind of plastic, but still letting another one in."

The group is hoping their micro plastics research, done in cooperation with Monmouth University's Urban Coast Institute, 5 Gyres and other research and advocacy groups, can back up their push for a federal microbead ban.

Now in its pilot phase, the groups are collecting samples along the East River, the Hudson River, New York Harbor and Newark Bay, using GPS data to estimate the plastic content in local waterways.

The microplastics can be too small to catch with the naked eye, but the team plucked drinking straws, food wrappers, bottle caps and a cigarette lighter from the reeds and chunks of driftwood during their latest expedition Monday.

On their way back to the Elizabeth marina, the crew was briefly stranded by a stuck propeller on the small research boat's motor, but a minute or two later, dislodged a brown plastic bag.

"Plastic!" Meola said, shaking her fist ruefully.

S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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