Plastic remains in food fish from the North Sea and Baltic Sea proven

German researchers prove plastic remains in many food fish
Every year tons of plastic waste land in the North Sea. It is therefore no great wonder that German researchers have now also detected plastic residues in food fish that originate from the North and Baltic Seas. Whether this also represents a danger to humans has not yet been clarified.

Huge amounts of plastic waste in the seas
Meanwhile, plastic waste can be found in all marine regions. Plastic waste has also been detected in Arctic waters. It is therefore not surprising that plastic particles are repeatedly detected in food. For example, a few months ago Chinese scientists reported that they had found microplastics in sea salt. Researchers have now discovered plastic remains in food fish from the North Sea and Baltic Sea.

Mackerel and other fish often contain plastic residue. (Image: dieter76 / fotolia.com)

Plastic also lands on the plate via the food chain
It is known that plastic does not rot, but only weathers. When it gets into the sea, it is gradually crushed. The fact that the remaining smallest particles get into the food chain and finally land on the plate in humans has now been reaffirmed. As reported by the news agency dpa, researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) in Bremerhaven have detected only a few millimeters of plastic particles in marine slugs, as well as in mackerel, cod and other food fish from the North and Baltic Seas. According to the scientists, the two new studies showed that so-called microplastics not only pose a threat to seabirds, whales and marine life creatures.

Near-shore fish species absorb less microplastics
According to the biologists, it is difficult to assess whether the plastic remnants also affect humans. It is said that research is still in its infancy. Meanwhile, in all the oceans microplastic, so plastic particles that are smaller than five millimeters, can be detected. The researchers are now studying the effects of microplastics on marine life. According to dpa, it had been warned for a long time that the particles could enter the food chain and ultimately end up on humans' plates. A survey of 290 North Sea and Baltic Sea fish gave clear results, which were published in the journal "ScienceDirect". In mackerel, for example, the percentage of microplastic animals in the digestive organs varies between 13 and 30 percent, depending on the marine region. As it turned out, mackerel are much more likely to swallow microplastic particles than near-ground fish such as flounder and dab. The herring, however, seems to take no microplastics at certain times of the year.

Plastic fibers are thought to be prey
AWI biologist and study leader Gunnar Gerdts suggests that these differences are related to fish feeding behavior. "In the case of the microplastic particles found, we assume that the animals quite randomly picked up the fragments floating in the water column during foraging. The situation is different with a large number of plastic fibers, which we found above all with mackerel. The fish probably thought they were prey, "according to the news agency. The fibers often float in relatively high density on the surface of the water and are similar in shape and color to freshly hatched pipefish that mackerels like to hunt. "Our findings suggest that species of fish looking for food on the water surface or in the upper layers are more likely to swallow plastic than others," Gerdts explained. (Ad)