Assessment of Microplastics in Commercially Harvested Aquaculture Products: An Example from Malaysia

Presented on April 28, 2022, by Sarva Mangala Praveena - Universiti Putra Malaysia - at the 2022 Emerging Contaminants in the Environment Conference (ECEC22)

This study aims to investigate the occurrence and characteristics of MPs in commercial harvested aquaculture products from local aquaculture hatcheries in Selangor (Malaysia). A total of 28 samples consist of Red Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), African catfish (Clarias gariepinus), Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus), Jade perch (Scrotum barcoo), Hybrid grouper (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus X Epinephelus lanceolatus) and Whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) were collected from local freshwater and marine aquaculture hatcheries in Selangor (Malaysia). Microplastics particles were extracted from fish and shrimp using NaCl hypersaline solution and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The highest accumulation was found in Red Nile tilapia (496 particles/individual) greater than Mozambique tilapia (300 particles/individual) greater than Jade perch (29 particles/individual) greater than African catfish (23 particles/individual) greater than Hybrid grouper (22 particles/individual) greater than Whiteleg shrimp (11 particles/individual). The particles extracted from aquaculture species were mostly in fragment and irregular form, with a mixture of colored and colorless. Polypropylene, nylon, low-density polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride were among the plastic polymers detected among the extracted particles from aquaculture species, suggesting that the particles possibly originated from aquaculture structures used at the sites. Further investigation is needed to understand better how aquaculture structures utilized and could influence MPs accumulation in sites and MPs in aquaculture species.