Vancouver Sun

Microplast­ic particles move up marine food chain: research

- RANDY SHORE rshore@vancouvers­un.com

Plastic fibres and particles in West Coast waters are being consumed and passed up the food chain by tiny marine creatures that apparently mistake them for food, according to a new study from the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre.

Researcher Peter Ross and his colleagues found plastic litter in the digestive systems of two key species of plankton that are eaten in large numbers by salmon and baleen whales.

Adult salmon returning to the Strait of Georgia may be consuming up to 91 plastic particles a day by eating plankton, while a humpback whale could ingest more than 300,000 particles a day, according to the researcher­s’ estimates.

Several recent studies have documented ingestion of plastics in the wild by fish, bivalves and crustacean­s.

“Most salmon species feed heavily on (plankton) during their juvenile and adult life stages,” said Ross. “These particles could pose a serious risk of physical harm to the marine animals that consume them, potentiall­y blocking their gut or leaching chemicals into their bodies.”

Images of dead seabirds with their guts full of plastic particles brought global attention to the problem of microplast­ics several years ago, Ross said.

Whether microplast­ics in the marine food web pose an immediate threat to human health is unknown, but the risk to humans is certainly lower than for marine mammals, he said. The plastics do not pass into the flesh of fin fish, which is the part of the animal we usually consume.

However, shellfish consumed in their entirety may pose a risk. A 2014 study by Ghent University found that consumers of mussels could be ingesting 11,000 plastic particles a year.

Barely visible to the eye, the microplast­ic particles found result from the breakdown and decay of plastics.

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