A team of researchers from the University of Otago in New Zealand found that three quarters of the more than 150 wild fish caught in a southern New Zealand sea contained microplastics.
The researchers used microscopy and Raman spectroscopy to study 155 samples of 10 commercially important marine fish species caught off the coast of Otago over more than a year and found that 75 percent of the marine fish studied contained microplastics, with an average of 2.5 microplastic particles detected per fish, and 99.68 percent of the identified plastic particles were less than 5 mm in size. Microplastic fibers are the most common type.
This study found that fish living at different depths in the above-mentioned waters had similar levels of microplastics, suggesting that microplastics are ubiquitous in the studied waters. Researchers say further studies are necessary to determine the risks to human health and ecology from consuming plastic-contaminated fish.
Microplastics are usually plastic particles with a particle size of less than 5 mm. There is growing evidence that microplastics are already polluting the marine ecosystem. When these wastes enter the food chain, they flow back to the human table and endanger human health.
The research results are published in the new issue of the British Marine Pollution Bulletin.
