Plastics, where did they go?

Remember the fish you had for dinner?
Did it taste good?
Yes? Great!
But how sure are you that it's fish?

 Photo from: http://workjournal.archipelago.gr/?p=1607

According to Czar, Andrs et al., the size and quantity of plastics found in our ocean, as compared to what we introduce to the ocean, is way lower than what we expect it to be. But plastic don't just disappear from the ocean (I mean that would be great if it was that magical though). Czar, Andrs et al. gave four plausible reasons to such discrepancy. 

Shore deposition

 Photo from: Clean up the Coastline, Veraldarvinir 

Nano-fragmentation

Photo from: Current Biology, Wright et al.

Bio-fouling

Photo from: Bayview Slipway Marine Service

Ingestion

 Photo from: http://greensangha.org/2009/06/message-from-the-sea/

Each of these damages the environment in a way or another and are sources of concern but, particularly nano-fragmentation and ingestion affects us directly. 

Nano-fragmentation and ingestion comes hand-in-hand. Nano-fragmentation is where plastics are being broken down into smaller fragments all the way to a size so small that we could not see with our naked eyes, the resultant microscopic pieces of plastics are what we call "micro-plastic".  When we take into account these micro pieces of plastic, filter feeders and other organisms at the bottom of the marine food chain are affected. (Thompson et al., 2004)

Bio-accumulation may occur. This means that more and more micro-plastics are introduced up the food chain. A filter feeder eats 5 pieces of micro-plastic, a fish feeds on 100 filter feeders, a bigger fish feeds on 100 of such fishes, then it comes to our plate. That is 5 x 100 x 100 pieces of micro-plastic in a fish on our plate! 

So before you throw away a piece of plastic from your shopping trip, think again. A piece of this plastic may end up on your plate one day.



Literature cited:

Czar, A., Echevarra, F., Gonzlez-Gordillo, J. I., Irigoien, X., beda, B., Hernndez-Len, S., . . . Duarte, C. M. (2014, July 15). Plastic debris in the open ocean. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

Thompson, R., Olsen, Y., Mitchell, R., Davis, A., Rowland, S., John, A., . . . Russell, A. (2004). Lost at sea: where is all the plastic? 838.