Scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD found evidence of plastic in more than 9 percent of the stomachs of fish collected during their voyage to the subtropical gyre, a giant swirling water mass in the middle of the north Pacific. Study authors Peter Davison and Rebecca Asch detailed their findings in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series.
Of the 141 fishes spanning 27 species dissected for the study, Davison and Asch found 9.2 percent contained plastic debris, primarily broken-down bits smaller than a human fingernail. They said the number understates the true ingestion rate of plastics because fish may regurgitate the pieces, pass it through their digestive systems or even die from eating them.
Plastic debris can kill marine life and could have more insidious effects, such as concentrating poisons in larger species. The majority of fish examined in the study were myctophids, commonly called lanternfish because of their luminescent tissue.
Scripps officials have talked about another plastic-sampling voyage, perhaps to the southern hemisphere, but they said that none are planned.
Plastic pieces in the ocean are from garbage discarded on land and sea -- everything from plastic grocery bags to fishing nets. It eventually converges in an area known as the North Pacific Gyre, where trade winds can trap it for years.
The north Pacific gyre is rarely visited by ships and it has been understudied by scientists, leaving many open questions about marine debris in the area and its long-term effects on the marine environment.
Plastic debris can kill marine life and could have more insidious effects, such as concentrating poisons in larger species. The majority of fish examined in the study were myctophids, commonly called lanternfish because of their luminescent tissue.
Scripps officials have talked about another plastic-sampling voyage, perhaps to the southern hemisphere, but they said that none are planned.
Plastic pieces in the ocean are from garbage discarded on land and sea -- everything from plastic grocery bags to fishing nets. It eventually converges in an area known as the North Pacific Gyre, where trade winds can trap it for years.
The north Pacific gyre is rarely visited by ships and it has been understudied by scientists, leaving many open questions about marine debris in the area and its long-term effects on the marine environment.
