Microplastics are likely the most numerically abundant items of plastic debris in the ocean today. Due to their large quantity and small size, microplastics can easily be incorporated into marine food webs, which may include organisms commonly used as seafood.

To discuss this topic further, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences will be hosting the next lecture of the 2016 Café Scientifique series on Tuesday, August 2, from 6 to 7 p.m. The lecture will be presented by Dr. Paty Matrai and will explore the question, “Just how much micro and nano plastics are we ingesting when we eat seafood?”

Microplastics are of environmental concern because their size (less than 5 millimeters or smaller) renders them accessible to a wide range of organisms at least as small as bacteria. It must be recognized that although microplastics greatly outnumber large plastic items in marine systems, they still make up only a very small proportion of the total mass of plastics in the ocean. Most result from the fragmentation and degradation of such larger pieces though some are manufactured to be of that small size; most significantly, they will continue to break down in size, entering firmly into the microbial size range.

The potential ecological risks of microplastics, especially to microorganisms, are a relatively new area of research, currently with a large degree of uncertainty. Tracking microplastics through the marine food web and into seafood is an open question.

Dr. Matrai is a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory whose research specializes in the interactions between climate and ocean in polar regions.

This event is free and open to the public. Members of the press are encouraged to attend. All 2016 Café Scientifique lectures will be held at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, located at 60 Bigelow Drive in East Boothbay. Lectures will also be live-streamed at live.bigelow.org.