OUR WORDS : PLASTIC POLLUTION IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN by Ivette Evangelista
EXCERPT: Sea creatures living in the Atlantic ecosystem tend to eat more plastic than having a healthy diet. A recent study in Nature, made by Chelea Rochman, an ecologist who specializes in Marine Ecology, reports that chemicals can be transferred into the fish. The study in the lab was split into three different groups: one received commercial fish feed, the second received 90% fish food and 10% clean plastic particles. The third group received 90% fish food and 10% plastic particles that had been floating in the San Diego Bay for three months. Researchers reported that the third group receiving polluted plastic had a greater concentration of plastic than the controlled diet group. Rochman suggests that “Both fish groups that ate plastic saw in increase in glycogen depletion,” which decreased the amount of glycogen in the liver of the fish. The ingestion of plastic caused the fish to experience stress because of the lack of protein.