Plastic pollution and debris accumulation

According to Choy and Drazen plastic pollution in oceans has rapidly increased hence leading to an increase in environmental concerns. In the recent past, scientists have prepared numerous reports of plastic debris accumulation in marine surface waters. In particular, much of these plastic debris accumulations have been found in the marine surface waters of Central North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. As a result of the increased debris accumulation, incidences of plastic ingestion by the various marine organisms have been reported.

The authors therefore investigate the ingestion of plastics and some of the other anthropogenic debris in pelagic predatory fish species from the open ocean waters. In order to examine the level of plastic ingestion in the fish species, the authors carried out a laboratory test that involved collecting of pelagic fish stomachs from the sea. Fish specimens were randomly and opportunistically sampled where all the stomach samples went through a laboratory examination (Choy and Drazen 156). The experiment focused on determining the difference in the prevalence of plastic and marine debris accumulation between shallow and deeper habitats of pelagic fish species.

According to the results it is quite clear that all of these pelagic species contained a considerable amount of marine debris mostly in plastic form. It is for this reason that the authors conclude that the number and scope of plastic ingestion needs to be given more attention as it has a great food web implication. Authors’ recommends that a further research should be carried out so as to determine whether the large pelagic species carry a high chemical toxins weight that may be in the end pose a great health risk to the sea-food public consumers.  

 

Work cited

Choy, C. Anela, and Jeffrey C. Drazen. "Plastic for dinner? Observations of frequent debris ingestion by pelagic predatory fishes from the central North Pacific." Marine Ecology Progress Series 485 (2013): 155-163.