World Oceans Day 2020: New IAEA Research Records Dramatic Increase in Microplastic Pollution in Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean

One of the crucial findings of this study is that the change in the microplastic abundance over time increases systematically and identically at all the sampling sites. This implies that the source of microplastics pollution is likely not local, but regional and maybe even global in scale. As many of the world’s mega-cities are located near coastlines, adjacent coastal waters are often elevated in marine plastics abundance, which in turn may impact local fisheries and seafood safety.

“It is sad but not surprising to see such a steep increase of microplastic abundance in the region,” said Rafael Bermudez Monsalve, Investigator Scientist from Ecuador supporting the research at the IAEA Environment Laboratories. “This data is crucial for the understanding of future oceanic scenarios and such studies can help policy makers on the implementation of adequate plastic life-cycle management.”

Plastics are by design tough and resistant to degradation and have thus over time been found even in the deepest marine trenches. In our oceans, plastic fragments are broken down continuously by ultra-violet light, by the corrosive nature of seawater and by the constant physical erosion due to waves and shear. This continuous degradation supplies a stream of tiny micro and nano-sized plastic particles that can be consumed by marine organism and thus introduced into the food chain.

So far, a limited number of research studies have attempted to assess the historic abundance of plastic pollution. There had not been any comprehensive study to have examined a long-time series of marine plastic waste in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean region. The IAEA research, supported by the Coastal Polytechnic University (ESPOL) and the National Fishery Institute of Ecuador, was based on measuring data obtained from past expeditions and observations of plastics collected from the four stations along the coast of mainland Ecuador including Esmeraldas, Puerto Lopez, Salinas and Santa Clara.

The microplastics under evaluation were classified into three types: fragments (bottles, cups, food containers), fibers (plastic lines and fishing detritus), and film (plastic bags, zip bags). Fibers were found to be the most common plastic particle in the open water. These tiny particles have been found to travel as far as 10 000 kilometers in the Pacific Ocean and have reached even the most remote areas such as Galapagos Islands, polluting its pristine waters and rich wildlife.

“As we continue to develop our research on marine plastics, nuclear and isotopic techniques are playing a particularly important role in advancing both the science and knowledge on the subtle, sustained impacts of microplastic pollution in the marine realm,” said Swarzenski.