02/10/2024 – by Pasquale Raicaldo
A new study sheds light on birds found on the Campanian coastline in the winter of 2022–2023: in most cases, fragments of bags and bottles. Researchers: “Larger debris mistaken for dead fish.”
They collected and examined them thoroughly. And from the razorbills found dead during the winter of 2022–2023 — when a sizeable group of at least 750 individuals wintered exceptionally along Italian coastlines — came a bitter confirmation: in 66% of cases the carcasses contained plastic, split equally between fragments and fibres. A new study conducted by the Anton Dohrn Zoological Station in collaboration with the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Naples Federico II and the Portuguese institute MARE — Centre of Marine and Environmental Sciences/ARNET, published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, paints a far from encouraging picture of plastic pollution in the central Tyrrhenian Sea, a potential contributing factor in the deaths of many specimens of this seabird — typical of the North Atlantic, whose diet consists almost exclusively of pelagic fish.
Plastic in the stomach and liver
The examination of the carcasses proved unequivocal: plastic was found primarily in the stomach, followed by the pectoral muscle, and some plastic fibres were also found in the liver. Among the animals collected, 38% of plastic elements were above 5 millimetres, while 62% fell within the microplastics range. The most prevalent polymer was polyethylene (found in 55% of cases), followed by polypropylene (24.1%). The former is generally used in the production of bags and bottles; the latter is used mainly in the production of detergent and yoghurt containers.
Source: Repubblica
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