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Microplastics in Mussels Along the Coast of Cape Town, South Africa

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Conrad Sparks at Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Conrad Sparks
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Microplastic (MP) contamination in marine organisms is a growing field of research internationally. However not much is known about MP presence in invertebrates in southern Africa. The aim of this study was to determine whether MPs occurs in mussels prevalent in Cape Town, South Africa. Mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis, Choromytilus meridionalis and Aulacomya ater) were sampled at 27 sites in October 2018 and MPs were recorded in 98% of mussels analysed. Most MPs were filaments, dark in colour and the size ranged between 50 and 1000 µm. There were no significant differences in MPs between the mussel species, with an average of 2.33 (standard error ± 0.2) MP particles/g and 4.27 (standard error ± 0.5) particles/individual being recorded for all sites combined. This is the first record of MPs in mussels in the region and provides a baseline for further investigations and monitoring of MPs.
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Vol.:(0123456789)
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Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology (2020) 104:423–431
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-020-02809-w
Microplastics inMussels Along theCoast ofCape Town, South Africa
ConradSparks1
Received: 7 August 2019 / Accepted: 13 February 2020 / Published online: 20 February 2020
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract
Microplastic (MP) contamination in marine organisms is a growing field of research internationally. However not much is
known about MP presence in invertebrates in southern Africa. The aim of this study was to determine whether MPs occurs
in mussels prevalent in Cape Town, South Africa. Mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis, Choromytilus meridionalis and Aula-
comya ater) were sampled at 27 sites in October 2018 and MPs were recorded in 98% of mussels analysed. Most MPs were
filaments, dark in colour and the size ranged between 50 and 1000µm. There were no significant differences in MPs between
the mussel species, with an average of 2.33 (standard error ± 0.2) MP particles/g and 4.27 (standard error ± 0.5) particles/
individual being recorded for all sites combined. This is the first record of MPs in mussels in the region and provides a
baseline for further investigations and monitoring of MPs.
Keywords Microplastics· Mussels· Filter-feeders· Cape town
The increased lack of sound waste management is well-
known throughout the world (Silpa etal. 2018). Poor man-
agement of waste has resulted in an increase in degradation
of the environment, increasing the problem of pollution to
the extent that the effects on ecosystems seems irreversible.
Included in waste and litter pollution are plastics that are
released into the environment and eventually end up, and
accumulate in, coastal oceanic waters (Law and Thomp-
son 2014). More than 240 million tons of plastic was pro-
duced globally in 2004 (Thompson etal. 2004) and this
has increased to 348 million tons in 2017 (Plastics Europe
2018). Most plastics are produced as single-use items (Bar-
rows etal. 2018) and once discarded, eventually end up in
coastal areas and the open ocean (Thompson etal. 2004).
Plastic eventually breaks up into smaller pieces, known as
microplastics (MPs) (particles less than 5mm in diameter)
and have become a dominant component of marine plastic
litter (Law and Thompson 2014).
Microplastics have been found in almost every marine
ecosystem on earth, from the open oceans (Law and Thomp-
son 2014;), ocean depths (Jamieson etal. 2019), coastal
areas (Setälä etal. 2016) and estuarine systems (Naidoo
etal. 2015). Given the ubiquitous distribution of MPs, they
pose environmental risks due to their availability (Wright
etal. 2013) and are ingested by most marine organisms,
including shellfish such as mussels (Li etal. 2015; Renzi
etal. 2018; Woods etal. 2018). Ingested MPs are also poten-
tial sources of harmful contaminants such as organic pollut-
ants and metals (Digka etal. 2018) which have the potential
to bioconcentrate up the food chain and pose risks for human
health (Wright etal. 2013). Filter-feeders such as mussels
are susceptible to MP ingestion as they are non-selective
regarding particle filtration and ingestion is size-dependant
(Moore etal. 2001). Mussels are considered ideal organisms
to monitor MPs (Li etal. 2016) and given their ubiquitous
distribution in South Africa (Branch etal. 2010), can be
considered as a monitoring tool for MPs in the region.
South Africa produced 42 million tonnes of waste in
2017, of which an estimated 11% was recycled (DEA 2018).
Of this waste generated in South Africa, an estimated 2.2
million tonnes was plastic (5% of total waste generated),
of which 15% was recycled and the remaining 1.9 million
tonnes ending up in landfill sites (DEA 2018). It is estimated
that the Western Cape Province, in the south western part of
South Africa, contributes 20% of the total waste produced
in South Africa which amounted to 8.4 million tonnes of
general waste and 0.4 million tonnes of plastic produced
in 2017 (DEA 2018). Cape Town comprises 64% of the
* Conrad Sparks
sparksc@cput.ac.za
1 Department ofConservation andMarine Sciences,
Cape Peninsula University ofTechnology, PO Box652,
CapeTown8000, SouthAfrica
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... The outcome of this review amplifies the need to intensify microplastic research on oysters in data-deprived regions such as Africa and South America. While there are quite a few studies on microplastics in coastal environments from Africa (Adika et al. 2020;Ana Isabel Catarino et al. 2023;Chico-Ortiz et al. 2020;Mahu et al. 2023;Nchimbi et al. 2022;Pereao et al. 2020;Preston-Whyte et al. 2021;Sparks 2020;Tata et al. 2020), only a few of such studies report microplastics in oysters (Addo et al. 2022;Awuor et al. 2020;Onyango 2020). Our study reports the occurrence and distribution of microplastics in the Mangrove oyster, Crassostrea tulipa sampled from The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Benin, and Nigeria. ...
Quantification and characterization of microplastics ingested by mangrove oysters across West Africa
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Microplastic ingestion by marine organisms presents a challenge to both ecosystem functioning and human health. We characterized microplastic abundance, shape, size, and polymer types ingested by the West African mangrove oyster, Crassostrea tulipa (Lamarck, 1819) sampled from estuaries and lagoons from the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Benin, and Nigeria using optical microscopy and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) techniques. A total of 780 microplastics were isolated in the whole tissues of the 250 oysters (n = 50 oysters per country). The abundance and distribution of microplastics in the oysters followed the pattern: the Gambia > Ghana > Sierra Leone > Nigeria > Benin. The Tanbi wetlands in the Gambia recorded the highest average of 10.50 ± 6.69 per oyster while the Ouidah lagoon in Benin recorded the lowest average of 1.80 ± 1.90 per oyster. Overall, microplastic numbers varied significantly (p < 0.05) among the five countries. Microfibers, particularly those within 1001–5000 μm size, dominated the total microplastic count with a few fragments and films. No spherical microplastics were isolated in the oysters. In the Sierra Leone and Benin oysters, fragments and films were absent in the samples. Microplastic between the 1001 and 5000 μm size class dominated the counts, followed by 501–1000 μm, 101–500 μm, and 51–100 μm. Five polymer groups namely polyethylene, polyester, nylon, polypropylene, and polyamide were identified across the five countries, with polyethylene occurring in oysters from all five countries and polyester occurring in all but the oysters from Nigeria. This diversity of polymers suggests varied sources of microplastics ingested by the studied oysters. The absence of microspheres across the five supports findings from other studies that they are the least ingested and highly egested by the oysters. Graphical Abstract
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... Whether biota that are found within and in the surrounding area of harbours are impacted by the microplastics is unknown, as biota have not been sampled and investigated in harbours. of microplastics in marine and estuarine fish. 33,34 The only other biota that have been researched was when Sparks 35 found microplastics in mussels along the coast of Cape Town, with means of 2.33±0.2 particles/g and 0.27±0.5 particles/organism. ...
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Microplastics are small plastic materials often defined as those between 5 mm and 0.05 mm in size. Microplastics can have toxicological impacts on various biota, from gut blockages to the transport or leaching of toxicants used in their production or absorbed from the surrounding environment. Although microplastic research has increased significantly, microplastic research in Africa lags behind that of developed countries. South Africa is the African nation with the highest number of microplastic publications. We aimed to determine the current state of microplastic research in South Africa. A total of 46 publications on microplastics in South Africa have been produced. However, many of these publications use methods that might not be accurate in determining holistic descriptions of microplastics in the aquatic environment. Similarly, many ecologically relevant environments and species have not been investigated for microplastics in the country, including any atmospheric or terrestrial environment. We conclude that, although the research being produced in South Africa can be considered adequate, a singular standard method for sampling and assessing microplastics in South African environments is required. The production of such a standard method would be critical to use as a monitoring tool to determine and compare microplastic abundances across the country and globally.
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... The polymers identified in the MP recovered from mussels (PE, PA, PS, PP and PEVA) were also observed in mussels from other sites in the Portuguese coast ( Pequeno et al., 2021;Botelho et al., 2023;Ferreira et al., 2023) and abroad (Li et al., 2016;Digka et al., 2018;Hermabessiere et al., 2019;Bošković et al., 2023), indicating their availability to mussels in many areas. The colours found in the MP from the analysed mussels (white/whitish, blue/blueish, red/reddish, black and transparent) have been also documented in other studies with mussels (Reguera et al., 2019;Sparks, 2020;Pequeno et al., 2021;Ferreira et al., 2023;Trani et al., 2023). The size variation and predominant size class of MP particles recovered from mussels in the study area are comparable to those documented in the literature, as recently reviewed (e.g., Bom and Sá, 2021;Ding et al., 2022). ...
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Microplastic (MP) pollution has become a global concern due to its potential impacts on the environment, ecosystem services and human health. The goals of the present study were to document the MP contamination in wild specimens of Mytilus galloprovincialis sampled along the Atlantic coast of the North region of Portugal continental (NW Portuguese coast), and to estimate the human risk of MP intake (HRI) through the consumption of local mussels as seafood. Mussels were collected at four sampling sites along the NW Portuguese coast (40 mussels per site), and the whole soft body of each mussel was analysed for MP content. HRI estimates were based on the mean of MP items per wet weight of mussel analysed tissue (MP/g) and consumption habits. A total of 132 MP items were recovered from mussels. MP had diverse sizes (98–2690 μm) and colours. The most common shapes were fibres (39%) and pellets (36%). Five polymers were identified in the MP: polyethylene (50%), polystyrene (15%), poly(ethylene vinyl acetate) (14%), polyamide (12%) and polypropylene (9%). From the 160 analysed mussels, 55% had MP. The mean and standard error of the mean of mussel contamination ranged from 0.206 ± 0.067 and 0.709 ± 0.095 MP/g. Compared to estimates based on MP contamination in mussels from other areas and varied consumption habits, the HRI through the consumption of mussels from the NW Portuguese coast is relatively low.
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In vitro and in vivo effects of commercial and environmental microplastics on Unio delicatus
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Microplastics in Animals – A Global Concern to Food Safety and Human Health
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A pretreatment method was established for separating microplastics from digestive system of bivalve sample. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of microplastics was carried out by micro-Fourier transformed infrared (μ-FT-IR) spectroscope and Stereo microscope. The method was applied to analyze the microplastics in the digestive system in Chlamys farreri and Mytilus galloprovincialis. The results showed that the digestion system of using 10% KOH had high digestion efficiency. With this digestion system, the recoveries of polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) ranged from 96.7% to 98.6%, with relative standard deviation (RSD, n = 3) of ≤ 3.19%. We collected Chlamys farreri from local markets (n = 50) and Mytilus galloprovincialis from both local markets (n = 50) and wild environments (n = 15) in Qingdao, China. The results showed that microplastics were found in over 80% of the individuals purchased from the market and 40% of the wild collected individuals. The average abundance of microplastics in Chlamys farreri purchased from different markets varied between 5.2 and 19.4 items/individual or between 3.2 and 7.1 items g⁻¹ (wet weight of digestive system), while in Mytilus galloprovincialis, the numbers varied between 1.9 and 9.6 items/individual or between 2.0 and 12.8 items g⁻¹. Farmed mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) contained more microplastics (average 1.9 items per individual, 3.17 items g⁻¹) than wild mussels (average 0.53 items individual, 2.0 items g⁻¹). Three shapes of microplastics, including fibers, fragments and granules were separated from the samples above. Among which, fibrous microplastics, being the most dominant ones, took up 84.11% of total microplastics. The average size of fibrous microplastics ((0.66 ± 0.70) mm) was larger than that of the other two shapes of microplastics. The number of microplastics decreased with increasing microplastic sizes. Microplastics of less than 500 μm coming from different markets were in the range of 26% to 84%. And it was found that the most common polymer component in the samples was cellophane (CP), followed by polypropylene (PP). The method has some advantages such as simplicity, high efficiency, and low damage to the microplastics in the sample, and can be used to detect and analyze microplastics in seafood. © 2018 Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Presence of microplastics in the tube structure of the reef-building polychaete Gunnarea gaimardi (Quatrefages 1848)
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The prevalence of microplastics in the marine environment has resulted in a need to understand their association with various fauna. The aim of this study was to assess whether microplastic particles are present in the tube structure of the indigenous reef-building polychaete Gunnarea gaimardi, which occurs along the coast of South Africa. Sampling was conducted at nine stations along the west and southeast coastlines of South Africa, in July 2016 and April/May 2017. Microplastic particles were recorded in all tube structures of G. gaimardi, with the density ranging between 0.056 and 1.113 microplastic particles g–1 dry weight (dwt). There were no significant differences between sites (p > 0.05), resulting in an overall average of 0.275 (SD 0.215) microplastic particles g–1 (dwt). To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to show that synthetic polymers are found in the tubes of reef-building polychaetes along the coast of South Africa.
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Quantification of microfibre levels in South Africa's beach sediments, and evaluation of spatial and temporal variability from 2016 to 2017
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  • Oct 2018
  • MAR POLLUT BULL
The microfibre content of beach sediment samples was established at 175 sampling sites along over 2700 km of South Africa's coastline in 2016 and again in 2017. The average microfibre content was 80 ± 102 F/dm³ in Feb/March 2017 (n = 161), and 87 ± 84 F/dm³ in May/June 2016 (n = 128). These average values, and the observed ranges of 0 to 797 F/dm³ in 2017 and 4 to 772 F/dm³ in 2016, are consistent with global observations. The highest microfibre levels were observed at sampling sites close to large coastal waste water treatment work discharge points. Several instances of temporal variability are observed, only some of which can be associated with seasonal changes in river runoff. This baseline data set is a valuable reference point for identification of priority study sites for more detailed study of marine ecosystem response to microfibre pollution.
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Microplastics in mussels sampled from coastal waters and supermarkets in the United Kingdom
Article
  • May 2018
Global contamination of the marine environment by plastic has led to the discovery of microplastics in a range of marine species, including those for human consumption. In this study, the presence of microplastics and other anthropogenic debris in seawater and mussels (Mytilus edulis) from coastal waters of the U.K., as well as supermarket sources, was investigated. These were detected in all samples from all sites with spatial differences observed. Seawater samples taken from 6 locations (in triplicates) displayed 3.5 ± 2.0 debris items/L on average (range: 1.5-6.7 items/L). In wild mussels sampled from 8 locations around the U.K. coastal environment, the number of total debris items varied from 0.7 to 2.9 items/g of tissue and from 1.1 to 6.4 items/individual. For the supermarket bought mussels, the abundance of microplastics was significantly higher in pre-cooked mussels (1.4 items/g) compared with mussels supplied live (0.9 items/g). Micro-FT-IR spectroscopy was conducted on 136 randomly selected samples, with 94 items characterized. The spectra found that 50% of these debris items characterized were microplastic, with an additional 37% made up of rayon and cotton fibers. The microplastic levels detected in the supermarket bought mussels present a route for human exposure and suggests that their quantification be included as food safety management measures as well as for environmental monitoring health measures.
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Microplastic contents from maricultured and natural mussels
Article
  • Jun 2018
  • MAR POLLUT BULL
Results of this research focuses on microplastic contents (levels, type, size, colour) in maricultured and natural mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) from different Italian stocks. No significant differences were found among maricultured and natural stocks. All recovered MPs are filaments ranging within 750–6000 μm of maximum length (average values 1150–2290 μm). Feeding raw mussel could produce median MP intakes of 6.2–7.2 items/g w.w. Concerning human exposure by diet, both raw and cooked values are important. Some preliminary tests performed in this study evidenced that the cooking process determined lower MPs levels (−14%) in cooked tissues compared to raw ones, MPs were recorded in cooking water and were characterized by a lower size than in raw mussels. Results obtained by this study represent an important baseline on MPs level to evaluate environmental and human exposure risks by diet.
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