Microplastics. (Photo: fishbio/5 Gyres)

High microplastic content found in commercial fish

SPAIN
Thursday, September 22, 2016, 22:00 (GMT + 9)

Researchers at the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) who analyzed micro-plastics intake in fish species of the Spanish Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts found a high percentage of them in the stomachs of several commercially important fish.

The scientists analyzed a total of 212 groundfish that have high commercial interest: 72 dogfish (Scyliorhinus canicula), 12 hake (Merluccius merluccius) and 128 mullet (Mullus barbatus) and found microplastics in 37 of them, that is to say, almost one out of every six.

The work, published recently in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin by researchers from IEO oceanographic centres of Murcia and Vigo, was conducted with fish samples taken throughout the Spanish mainland coast, besides the Balearic Islands.

The presence of microplastics was higher in mullets, followed by hake and dogfish.

Geographically, the abundance of plastics proved higher in fish caught in the Mediterranean, showing a higher incidence of mullet caught near Barcelona, ​​followed by dogfish of the Bay of Biscay and the Gulf of Cadiz. These fish are often used as bio-indicators within the national program for monitoring marine pollution.

"There is no evidence of negative effects on human health, but it would be worth studying," explains Juan Bellas, author of the article.

In the second study, published in the journal Environmental Pollution, the researchers Salud Deudero and Carmen Alomar, of the IEO Oceanographic Centre of the Balearic Islands, report on the high presence of microplastics in the gastrointestinal tract of the bogue (Boops boops) a semi-pelagic fish that is common in the Balearic Islands and the Mediterranean.

The study shows that almost 70 per cent of the bogues have plastic polymer fibers that are less than 5 mm in their stomachs. The plastic is between 42 per cent and 80 per cent of ingested prey on the fish sampled in different coastal areas of Mallorca and Ibiza. The spatial variability is high, suggesting that diffuse pollution by microplastics is very important, it is widely distributed and comes from multiple sources.

"The results are important and provide additional evidence of the presence of these microplastics in the marine environment, being ingested by the biota and transferred in food webs," the authors write.

These studies mark the starting point for future monitoring of plastic pollution and its biological effects on the marine environment within the Framework Directive on Marine Strategy.

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