The Education Program at the
New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium
22 Magruder Road Fort Hancock, NJ 07732 732‐872‐1300 njseagrant.org
How to Construct a Soda Bottle Plankton Net
Materials:
•
One two‐liter soda bottle with cap
•
One Nylon knee high stocking
•
Nylon or other heavy‐duty string (about 9 feet)
•
Duct Tape
•
Scissors
•
Hole Puncher
•
Small Collection jar (baby food jars are fine)
After you have your material assembled:
Remove cap from soda bottle and set aside and flatten out soda bottle as much as possible.
1.
Cut the soda bottle at 2 places to have 3 separate parts.
(see figure 1)
a.
The first cut should be made about 3 inches down from the neck of the bottle.
b.
The second should be made about 4 inches down from the first cut.
c.
Recycle the bottom part of the bottle.
2.
Cut small hole at toe of nylon stocking.
3.
Slide top portion of bottle through stocking so neck of bottle is sticking through hole in toe. Pull till
snug then tape in place. Attach middle of bottle to other end of stocking.
(see figure 2)
4.
Punch 3 holes evenly spaced apart around the open end (the end not attached to the nylon
stocking) of the middle portion of the soda bottle.
(see figure 2)
5.
Cut string into 3 three‐foot pieces; attach each string to a hole.
6.
Tie the 3 pieces of string together at the end to make a tow line.
(see figure 2)
7.
Replace cap onto neck of your new plankton net.
8.
Wade through water with open end of the plankton net moving through the surface water, be
careful NOT to drag on the bottom of the seafloor and fill with sand. Plankton will collect on the
nylon stocking of your plankton net; squeeze down while in the water to collect into capped neck of
the bottle.
9.
Remove cap to pour collected sample
into collection jar.