{"id":5021,"date":"2024-07-04T15:04:06","date_gmt":"2024-07-04T15:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/04\/fibreglass-from-boats-found-in-marine-food-chain-for-first-time\/"},"modified":"2024-07-04T15:04:06","modified_gmt":"2024-07-04T15:04:06","slug":"fibreglass-from-boats-found-in-marine-food-chain-for-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/04\/fibreglass-from-boats-found-in-marine-food-chain-for-first-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Fibreglass from boats found in marine food chain for first time"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tiny fragments of glass fibre widely used to make small boats around the world have been found in the marine food chain for the first time.<\/p>\n

Scientists at the universities of Portsmouth and Brighton found the glass shards, just a fraction of a millimetre long, in shellfish caught off the south coast of England.<\/p>\n

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The needle-shaped fragments of fibreglass, or glass reinforced plastic, were so sharp that some had speared biological tissue.<\/p>\n

Professor Faye Couceiro, lead researcher and an expert in environmental pollution, told Sky News more research was urgently needed to understand the risk to people who consume oysters and mussels.<\/p>\n

“The glass fibre is causing inflammation in all of the areas it is found (in the shellfish tissue),” she said.<\/p>\n

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“We don’t know what that means for human health yet. But it’s likely something similar will be happening, so the question is at what concentration does that become a problem.”<\/p>\n

Fibreglass is a mesh of glass filaments that is embedded in plastic resin. The material is strong, light and easily shaped to make boats.<\/p>\n

But when it is cut or sanded, or it degrades with age, it creates a fine dust of fibres which are easily washed into the sea.<\/p>\n

The researchers studied oysters and mussels caught near an active boatyard in Chichester Harbour, a popular sailing destination in southern England.<\/p>\n

Using a high-powered microscope they found up to 11,220 fibreglass particles per kilogram of oysters, and 2,740 per kilogram of mussels.<\/p>\n

The vast majority were in the stomachs of the shellfish and would be expelled if they were put in clean water before being sold to consumers.<\/p>\n

But several hundred glass fragments were found in the flesh and would have been consumed by anyone eating the mussel or oyster.<\/p>\n

“I was surprised by the number,” Prof Couceiro said. “I don’t think it’s panic stage. Don’t stop eating them.”<\/p>\n

But she added that the shellfish industry must now look at ways of cleaning out as many of the fragments as possible prior to consumption.<\/p>\n

Oysters and mussels are already known to accumulate microplastic in their body tissues.<\/p>\n

They are filter feeders, sucking in several litres of seawater every minute to extract particles of food.<\/p>\n

But they also trap fibres and other fragments polluting coastal waters.<\/p>\n

Gordon Watson, professor of marine zoology at the University of Portsmouth, said the fibres have a significant impact.<\/p>\n

“These mussels grow more slowly,” he said.<\/p>\n

“But they are also eaten by other organisms, like fish, and could pass the particles on, so they accumulate in the food chain.”<\/p>\n

Although the research focused on shellfish near an active boatyard, the scientists said the problem was likely to be more widespread.<\/p>\n

Prof Couceiro said fibreglass boats should be disposed of in landfill if they can’t be recycled at the end of their life.<\/p>\n

“Landfill is expensive, so people drill a hole and the boat sinks to the bottom,” she said.<\/p>\n

“If there was registration of vessels we would know who they belonged to and we would be able to make sure that they were disposed of properly,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We need to prevent these particles getting into the environment.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on sky.com<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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