According to a new study, microplastics are contaminating marine and aquatic environments ending up in popular types of consumable seafood. Researchers from Portland State University (PSU) highlight the need for strategies and technologies to reduce microplastics (MPs) and other anthropogenic particles in the study, “From the ocean to our kitchen table: anthropogenic particles in the edible tissue of U.S. West Coast seafood species,” which was published in the journal Frontiers in Toxicology.
Scientists from the Applied Coastal Ecology Lab at PSU used earlier research, which explored microplastics in bivalves such as Pacific razor clams and oysters, and focused their research on commonly eaten crustaceans and finfish.
“If we are disposing of and utilizing products that release microplastics, those microplastics make their way into the environment, and are taken up by things we eat,” Elise Granek, an environmental science and management professor and lead project researcher, said. “What we put out into the environment ends up back on our plates.”
The study’s “goal was to fill in the gaps regarding microplastic contamination in shellfish and finfish in Oregon, while gaining a better understanding of differences across trophic levels—which arrange the position of fish in the food chain—as well as in pathways to consumers, EcoWatch reported. The quantified particles were discovered in the edible tissues of many popular seafood in Oregon.
“Microplastics (MPs) and other anthropogenic particles (APs) are pervasive environmental contaminants found throughout marine and aquatic environments. We quantified APs in the edible tissue of black rockfish, lingcod, Chinook salmon, Pacific herring, Pacific lamprey, and pink shrimp, comparing AP burdens across trophic levels and between vessel-retrieved and retail-purchased individuals,” the researchers said in the study.
According to a press release, 1,806 anthropogenic particles were found in 180 of 182 individuals with fibers being most abundant, followed by films and fragments. Of the sampled seafood, pink shrimp had the highest particle concentrations in their edible tissue, while the lowest concentrations were found in Chinook salmon, followed by lingcod and black rockfish, EcoWatch reported.
“We found that the smaller organisms that we sampled seem to be ingesting more anthropogenic, non-nutritious particles,” Granek said. “Shrimp and small fish, like herring, are eating smaller food items like zooplankton. Other studies have found high concentrations of plastics in the area in which zooplankton accumulate and these anthropogenic particles may resemble zooplankton and thus be taken up for animals that feed on zooplankton.”
While more studies need to be conducted to understand how these particles end up in tissue of consumable seafood, researchers said that policies need to be put in place as a solution. Researchers suggested that consumers rinse shrimp and fish fillets before preparing to possibly remove additional contamination from the surface.
“We’re continuing to do work to understand the effects of anthropogenic particles on animals, but we’re also moving into experimental work to test what are effective solutions to reduce microplastics entering marine ecosystems,” Granek added.
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