Microplastic Occurrence and Effects In Commercially Harvested North American Finfish and Shellfish: Current Knowledge And Future Directions

Authors

Britta Baechler, Portland State UniversityFollow
Cheyenne Stienbarger, University of North Carolina - Wilmington
Dorothy Horn, Portland State UniversityFollow
Jincy Joseph, University of North Carolina - Wilmington
Allison Taylor, University of North Carolina - Wilmington
Elise F. Granek, Portland State UniversityFollow
Susanne Brander, Oregon State University

Sponsor

We acknowledge funding from the NOAA Marine Debris Program (grant NA17NOS9990025 to S.M.B. and A.R.T.) and Oregon State University's Agricultural Research Foundation (S.M.B.), as well as funding from Oregon Sea Grant (Award NA14OAR4170064 to E.F.G.) and an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (to D.A.H.).

Published In

Limnology and Oceanography Letters

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-2019

Subjects

Microplastics -- Environmental aspects, Microplastics -- Measurement, Microplastics -- Oregon -- Analysis

Abstract

Commercial fisheries yield essential foods, sustain cultural practices, and provide widespread employment around the globe. Commercially harvested species face a myriad of anthropogenic threats including degraded habitats, changing climate, overharvest, and pollution. Microplastics are pollutants of increasing concern, which are pervasive in the environment and can harbor or adsorb pollutants from surrounding waters. Aquatic organisms, including commercial species, encounter and ingest microplastics, but there is a paucity of data about those caught and cultured in North America. Additional research is needed to determine prevalence, physiological effects, and population-level implications of microplastics in commercial species from Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Investigations into possible human health effects of microplastic exposure from seafood are also greatly needed. This synthesis summarizes current knowledge, identifies data gaps, and provides future research directions for addressing microplastics effects in commercially valuable North American fishery species.

Rights

© 2019 The Authors. Limnology and Oceanography published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Description

For more information about this topic:

Video & Photos Video on Microplastics in Razor Clams and Oysters is available here: https://youtu.be/WpmZbkWGayA

Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/oregonseagrant/sets/72157685405628133/

Microplastic Concentrations in Two Oregon Bivalve Species: Spatial, Temporal, and Species Variability

Data From: Microplastic Concentrations in Two Oregon Bivalve Species: Spatial, Temporal, and Species Variability

Locate the Document

https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10122

DOI

10.1002/lol2.10122

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/30375

Citation Details

Baechler, B. R., Stienbarger, C. D., Horn, D. A., Joseph, J., Taylor, A. R., Granek, E. F., & Brander, S. M. (2019). Microplastic occurrence and effects in commercially harvested North American finfish and shellfish: Current knowledge and future directions. Limnology and Oceanography Letters.