One found, many to go UR-Allie

   Introduction

     Marine life is suffering indisputably from the impacts of plastic pollution in our seas. More than eight million tons of plastic are abandoned in our oceans every year. Confusing and poisoning naturally curious animals like fish, who tend to nibble on plastic and sometimes get entangled. Resulting in mutations and harm of many species. Plastic is a man made material unable to naturally decompose or digest as part of the normal diet. Internal plastic accumulation is proven to lead to blockages that shut down the digestive tract and cause death. Plastic has a decay rate of about 400 years and each year we produce more and more of it. Studies held by a team of scientists from the University of Georgia, California, Santa Barbara and Sea Education Association conduct the first ever global analysis and current statistic on plastic. Researchers have discovered About half of the total amount of plastics manufactured from 1950 to 2015, have been produced in the last 13 years alone. This implies the pace of plastic production is only speeding up, even though most products are only used once before disposal. The researchers also discovered that by 2015, people had produced 8.3 billion metric tons of plastics, 6.3 billion tons of which had already become waste. Within the total waste, a mere 9 percent was recycled, 12 percent was incinerated and 79 percent resides in landfills or the natural environment- such as the ocean.

What is known about plastic ingestion by fish?

 •Waterways are polluted with harmful toxic non-biodegradable material and disrupts natural habitats.

•Plastic ingestion can cause internal damages such as ulcerations and partial blockages of digestive tract resulting in starvation and death. (Macklin, 2018)

•Ingestion is noticed in both predatory fish and filter-feeders. Predatory fish can mistake plastic for food while filter-feeders sometimes ingest them unintentionally while feeding. (Blastic, 2016)

What is unknown about local plastic ingestion by fish?

•Local studies of the microplastic ingestion by fish

•Studies on physical damage and excretion processes in the gastrointestinal tract of fish

•Clear differences in the amount of plastics ingested between pelagic and benthic fish

•A relationship between fish feeding habits/ diet and liability to consume plastics

Scientific Question-

•Are local fish species suffering from the impacts of microplastic consumption?

Materials

Using the microscope in the IMES lab to find plastics

• Latex gloves
• Measuring tape
• Fish ID guide
• Camera 
• Dissecting kit
• Petri dish
• Dissecting microscope

      

Process of dissection

Methods

•Collect/ receive dead fish.

•Measure and record fork length of fish, use fish ID to identify the species.

•Preserve remains to store at the laboratory.

General Fish anatomy

•Use the knife to cut horizontally along the abdomen of the fish’s stomach and remove the stomach and digestive tract.

•Use the dissecting utensils to cut and dissect the stomach and digestive track to examine for microplastics.

•If microplastic fibers are discovered, remove and place in petri dish to examine further only under the microscope.

•To test found substance for plastic material, heat up a metal and touch the fiber to observe the reaction. If the material shrivels up and melts, determine this to be a plastic.

44 cm Bluefish ready for dissecting

Results

One tiny microplastic fiber recovered

5 fish have been preserved and dissected under a microscope for microplastic fibers. One 44 cm Bluefish, two 39 cm Bluefish, one 40 cm Bluefish, and one 30 cm Pompano. The results are one piece (< 1’’ in length) microplastic fiber was located in the 44 cm Bluefish.

Graph expressing the plastic found in local fish

One microplastic found under the microscope

Out of five fish samples, one blue fish after further examination was positively identified to have contained one plastic microfiber (<1”) by the heat reaction test.

Yes, there are microplastics found in locally caught fish. Out of only 5 fish, one microplastic was found. In further research, possibly a trend amongst the accumulated data could be identified.

Works Cited:

oAmaral, Kimberly. “Plastics in Our Oceans.” Plastics in Our Oceans, science/B/people/kamaral/plasticsarticle www.whoi.edu/.html.

•Plastic ingestion by fish. (n.d.). Retrieved March 02, 2018, from https://www.blastic.eu/knowledge-bank/impacts/plastic-ingestion/fish/

•What Do Fish Eat? The Answer Will Leave You Stupefied. (n.d.). Retrieved March 02, 2018, from https://animalsake.com/what-do-fish-eat

•Cleaned up the Daytona Beach You Hippies! (n.d.). Retrieved March 02, 2018, from http://www.persimmonhollowbrewing.com/blog/2018/1/17/clean-up-the-daytona-beach-you-hippies

•When The Mermaids Cry: The Great Plastic Tide. (n.d.). Retrieved March 02, 2018, from http://plastic-pollution.org/

•Macklin, Malorie. “Is It Really Worth the Convenience? 6 Ways Plastic Is Harming Animals, the Planet and Us.” One Green Planet, 23 Nov. 2017, www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/how-plastic-is-harming-animals-the-planet-and-us/.

•Lonne, Torben. “How Ocean Pollution Impacts Marine Life-and All of Us.” MarineSafe, 3 May 2016, www.marinesafe.org/blog/2016/04/18/how-ocean-pollution-impacts-marine-life-and-all-of-us/.