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Fish are eating lots of plastic

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Fish are eating lots of plastic

#21

Post by bsder »

carapace wrote: post #9

I have a plan, but it's taking me a bit longer than I'd hoped: http://phoenixbureau.github.io/ReGPGP/ > The only way to clean up such a huge mess is to create a system that mimics the way life would do it. Really, if something could eat plastic there wouldn't be quite such a bad problem. It is because no living creature can digest plastic that it stays around and accumulates. So the solution is to create a kind of ar…

That's called a bacterium.

Why not create an actual bacterium to break plastic down like everything else in the environment? It's not really that hard--high school students have done it before.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-plastic-eati...

Bonus points if you can make the bacterium specific to particular kinds of plastic.

Re: Fish are eating lots of plastic

#22

Post by Practicality »

victornomad wrote: post #18
cropsieboss wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do people really eat that much fish? I thought fish is mostly raised as fishmeal for cows. Making an even worse bioaccumulation chain.

yes, people do. Not all the countries are pure meat eaters...

You know that fish is a type of meat, right?

Re: Fish are eating lots of plastic

#23

Post by lobster_johnson »

harryf wrote: post #11

Prediction: evolution will solve what humans are incapable of. That means species of fish evolving that specializes in eating plastic. Kinda makes sense. While plastic isn't bio-degradeable in the normal sense, perhaps the digestive system of a specialized fish will succeed. After all there is an abundance.

The evolutionary pressure to cause a mutated, plastic-eating fish to outcompete non-plastic-eating fish would suggest that there would be areas where plastic was more abundant that the other things (plankton, mostly) that fish normally feed on, i.e. other fish would be at a disadvantage because they couldn't process plastic. That's a pretty dire scenario for humans.

Re: Fish are eating lots of plastic

#24

Post by Practicality »

harryf wrote: post #11

Prediction: evolution will solve what humans are incapable of. That means species of fish evolving that specializes in eating plastic. Kinda makes sense. While plastic isn't bio-degradeable in the normal sense, perhaps the digestive system of a specialized fish will succeed. After all there is an abundance.

Evolution was so last eon. We've got CRISPR now. :D

Re: Fish are eating lots of plastic

#25

Post by PerfectElement »

dev_throw wrote: post #4

Bioaccumulation is a serious thing. I suspect increase of plastic in fish might be related to the reduction in sperm count in men.[0][1] [0] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bpa-semen-quality... [1] http://www.deepseanews.com/2014/10/a-story-about-fish-plasti...

Eating lower in the food chain is a practical and accessible solution.

Re: Fish are eating lots of plastic

#26

Post by gnaritas »

victornomad wrote: post #18
cropsieboss wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do people really eat that much fish? I thought fish is mostly raised as fishmeal for cows. Making an even worse bioaccumulation chain.

yes, people do. Not all the countries are pure meat eaters...

> Not all the countries are pure meat eaters...

lmao... fish is meat.

Re: Fish are eating lots of plastic

#28

Post by saagarjha »

bsder wrote: post #21
carapace wrote: post #9

I have a plan, but it's taking me a bit longer than I'd hoped: http://phoenixbureau.github.io/ReGPGP/ > The only way to clean up such a huge mess is to create a system that mimics the way life would do it. Really, if something could eat plastic there wouldn't be quite such a bad problem. It is because no living creature can digest plastic that it stays around and accumulates. So the solution is to create a kind of ar…

That's called a bacterium. Why not create an actual bacterium to break plastic down like everything else in the environment? It's not really that hard--high school students have done it before. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-plastic-eati... Bonus points if you can make the bacterium specific to particular kinds of plastic.

Well, you need to figure out an economically viable method of producing these bacteria in the quantities necessary and the perform research on the impact that these bacteria will have on the environment…

Re: Fish are eating lots of plastic

#29

Post by HillaryBriss »

PerfectElement wrote: post #25
dev_throw wrote: post #4

Bioaccumulation is a serious thing. I suspect increase of plastic in fish might be related to the reduction in sperm count in men.[0][1] [0] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bpa-semen-quality... [1] http://www.deepseanews.com/2014/10/a-story-about-fish-plasti...

Eating lower in the food chain is a practical and accessible solution.

yeah. that's certainly been the approach for reducing exposure to mercury.

but, with plastics, i wonder how significant the exposure reduction is for, say, consuming sardines, given that the plastic particles themselves may be mistaken for plankton.

in other words, what percentage of a low food chain fish's or mollusk's diet is pure plastic?

Re: Fish are eating lots of plastic

#30

Post by mjevans »

dev_throw wrote: post #4

Bioaccumulation is a serious thing. I suspect increase of plastic in fish might be related to the reduction in sperm count in men.[0][1] [0] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bpa-semen-quality... [1] http://www.deepseanews.com/2014/10/a-story-about-fish-plasti...

'farmed' fish might also be a good option while we (as a species) work out our waste issues.
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