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Commentary on: Abundance and distribution of microplastics within surface sediments of a key shellfish growing region of Canada.

ABSTRACT: This formal comment is in response to "Abundance and distribution of microplastics within surface sediments of a key shellfish growing region of Canada" written by Kazmiruk and colleagues in 2018. This article presents microplastics concentrations in sediment, primarily microbeads, within Baynes Sound, British Columbia, which are some of the highest that have been reported anywhere in the world. The authors cite the local shellfish industry as the likely source of this high degree of contamination and present the industry as a substantial risk to the environment. However, the authors do not sufficiently justify the efficacy of their methodology, and there are several flaws which call into question the legitimacy of their findings. In this commentary, we address the microplastic abundances reported by the authors, and methodological concerns. Furthermore, we provide additional data to elucidate some of this study's more contentious findings. Specifically, we seek to clarify the visual identification of microbeads and microfibres, and the microplastic concentration within shellfish populations, water, and sediment, within the Baynes Sound shellfish growing region.

SUBMITTER: Covernton GA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6905569 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Commentary on: Abundance and distribution of microplastics within surface sediments of a key shellfish growing region of Canada.

Covernton Garth A GA Cox Kieran K

PloS one 20191211 12

This formal comment is in response to "Abundance and distribution of microplastics within surface sediments of a key shellfish growing region of Canada" written by Kazmiruk and colleagues in 2018. This article presents microplastics concentrations in sediment, primarily microbeads, within Baynes Sound, British Columbia, which are some of the highest that have been reported anywhere in the world. The authors cite the local shellfish industry as the likely source of this high degree of contaminati ...[more]

PMID: 31825999

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Project description:The abundance and distribution of microplastics within 5 sediment size classes (>5000 ?m, 1000-5000 ?m, 250-1000 ?m, 250-0.63 ?m and < 0.63 ?m) were determined for 16 sites within Lambert Channel and Baynes Sound, British Columbia, Canada. This region is Canada's premier growing area for the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas). Microplastics were found at all sampling locations indicating widespread contamination of this region with these particles. Three types of microplastics were recovered: microbeads, which occurred in the greatest number (up to 25000/kg dry sediment) and microfibers and microfragments, which were much less in number compared with microbeads and occurred in similar amounts (100-300/kg dry sediment). Microbeads were recovered primarily in the < 0.63 ?m and 250-0.63 ?m sediment size class, whereas microfragments and microfibers were generally identified in all 5 sediment size classes. Abundance and distribution of the three types of microplastics were spatially dependent with principal component analysis (PCA) indicating that 84 percent of the variation in abundance and distribution was due to the presence of high numbers of microbeads at three locations within the study region. At these sites, microbeads expressed as a percent component of the sediment by weight was similar to key geochemical components that govern trace metal behavior and availability to benthic organisms. Microbeads have been shown to accumulate metals from the aquatic environment, hence in addition to the traditional geochemical components such as silt and organic matter, microplastics also need to be considered as a sediment component that can influence trace metal geochemistry. Our findings have shown that BC's premier oyster growing region is highly contaminated with microplastics, notably microbeads. It would be prudent to assess the degree to which oysters from this region are ingesting microplastics. If so, it would have direct implications for Canada's oyster farming industry with respect to the health of the oyster and the quality of product that is being farmed and sets an example for other shellfish growing regions of the world.

Dataset Information

Commentary on: Abundance and distribution of microplastics within surface sediments of a key shellfish growing region of Canada.

Publications

Commentary on: Abundance and distribution of microplastics within surface sediments of a key shellfish growing region of Canada.

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