Microplastics in sediments from beaches in Nigeria

This study investigated the ingestion of microplastics by silver catfish (Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus) from New Calabar River in Niger Delta, Nigeria. Microplastics from the guts of 45 fish were examined with microscope after dissolution with potassium hydroxide. Microplastics, mostly fragments were found in about 56% of the samples at an average of 3.87±5.97 particles per fish. This study highlights the consequences of plastic pollution in freshwater environment and the potential risk to aquatic and human life. This also shows a potential threat to public health and therefore needs attention from health and environmental policy makers.

This study investigated the occurrence and abundance of microplastics in surface sediments from four beaches in Lagos State, Nigeria. The beaches are Alpha, Oniru, Eleko and Lekki. Microplastics were taken from the sediments by floatation method. The number of microplastics in 50 g of dry sediment were counted with a photo microscope and results were as follows: Eleko (170 ± 21 items), Lekki (141 ± 36 items), Alpha (133 ± 16 items), and Oniru (121 ± 38 items). Fragments dominated among the microplastics found in the beaches while three polymers; polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE) and polystyrene (PS) were identified using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). This study serves as baseline for further investigations on the occurrence of microplastics in the Nigerian coastal environment.