Farmed Fish Eat Microplastics. So Do People Who Eat the Fish.

As global fish consumption grows, experts cite aquaculture as a powerful tool to fight food insecurity — it now accounts for 46% of all fish production. In fact, fishery and aquaculture production growth has outpaced human population growth over the past 50 years, according to the UN. With so many communities relying on seafood globally, ensuring that fish are safe for human consumption is imperative.

Studies show that microplastic-fed seafood have lower feeding rate, body mass, and metabolism. A recent UN report states that in aquaculture, a new disease emerges, spreads, and causes “major production losses approximately every three to five years.” Microplastics can carry fish-disease causing bacteria, making an infectious disease epidemic in farmed fish populations increasingly likely.

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