Taiwan study finds large amounts of microplastics in fish

Taiwan study finds large amounts of microplastics in fish

Source: taipeitimes

5/8/2022

Taiwan study finds large amounts of microplastics in fish

Staff writer, with CNA

A study carried out by National Sun Yat-sen University in Kaohsiung has found microplastics in most batches of dried fish it studied from seven Asian countries, suggesting a potential health risk.

The study, titled “Occurrence of microplastics in commercial marine dried fish in Asian countries,” was published by the Journal of Hazardous Materials on Feb. 5.

The findings were highlighted in a statement issued by the university on Monday.

The research team led by professor Hung Ching-chang (洪慶章), head of the school’s College of Marine Sciences, studied 14 batches of dried fish to examine if they were contaminated by microplastics.

It found that a type of round herring species caught off Japan’s southeastern coast was the most contaminated of all the samples.

The team attributed the results to East Asian waters around Japan being hotspots for microplastics, with a concentration one order of magnitude higher than the rest of the world’s oceans.

The study found that 75.9 percent of the samples of round herring from Japan, known formally as Etrumeus micropus, contained microplastics.

Silver-stripe round herring