First evidence of microplastics in the African Great Lakes: Recovery from Lake Victoria Nile perch and Nile tilapia

Fares John Biginagwa; Bahati Sosthenes Mayoma; Yvonne Shashoua; Kristian Syberg; Farhan R. Khan

doi:10.1016/j.jglr.2015.10.012

First evidence of microplastics in the African Great Lakes: Recovery from Lake Victoria Nile perch and Nile tilapia

Fares John Biginagwa, Bahati Sosthenes Mayoma, Yvonne Shashoua, Kristian Syberg, Farhan R. Khan

Department of Science and Environment

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Abstract

Microplastic contamination in the African Great Lakes is currently unreported, and compared to other regions of the world little is known about the occurrence of microplastics in African waters and their fauna. The present study was conducted in the Mwanza region of Tanzania, located on the southern shore of Lake Victoria. The gastrointestinal tracts of locally fished Nile perch (Lates niloticus) and Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) were examined for plastics. Plastics were confirmed in 20% of fish from each species by Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. A variety of polymer types were identified with likely sources being urban waste and consumer use. Although further research is required to fully assess the impact of plastic pollution in this region, our study is the first to report the presence of microplastics in Africa's Great Lakes and within the fish species that inhabit them

Original language	Undefined/Unknown
Journal	Journal of Great Lakes Research
Volume	42
Issue number	1
Pages (from-to)	146-149
Number of pages	4
ISSN	0380-1330
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2015.10.012
Publication status	Published - Feb 2016

Link to document

10.1016/j.jglr.2015.10.012

Cite this

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title = "First evidence of microplastics in the African Great Lakes: Recovery from Lake Victoria Nile perch and Nile tilapia",

abstract = "Microplastic contamination in the African Great Lakes is currently unreported, and compared to other regions of the world little is known about the occurrence of microplastics in African waters and their fauna. The present study was conducted in the Mwanza region of Tanzania, located on the southern shore of Lake Victoria. The gastrointestinal tracts of locally fished Nile perch (Lates niloticus) and Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) were examined for plastics. Plastics were confirmed in 20% of fish from each species by Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. A variety of polymer types were identified with likely sources being urban waste and consumer use. Although further research is required to fully assess the impact of plastic pollution in this region, our study is the first to report the presence of microplastics in Africa's Great Lakes and within the fish species that inhabit them",

keywords = "ATR-FTIR analysis",

author = "Biginagwa, {Fares John} and Mayoma, {Bahati Sosthenes} and Yvonne Shashoua and Kristian Syberg and Khan, {Farhan R.}",

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T1 - First evidence of microplastics in the African Great Lakes

T2 - Recovery from Lake Victoria Nile perch and Nile tilapia

AU - Biginagwa, Fares John

AU - Mayoma, Bahati Sosthenes

AU - Shashoua, Yvonne

AU - Syberg, Kristian

AU - Khan, Farhan R.

PY - 2016/2

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N2 - Microplastic contamination in the African Great Lakes is currently unreported, and compared to other regions of the world little is known about the occurrence of microplastics in African waters and their fauna. The present study was conducted in the Mwanza region of Tanzania, located on the southern shore of Lake Victoria. The gastrointestinal tracts of locally fished Nile perch (Lates niloticus) and Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) were examined for plastics. Plastics were confirmed in 20% of fish from each species by Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. A variety of polymer types were identified with likely sources being urban waste and consumer use. Although further research is required to fully assess the impact of plastic pollution in this region, our study is the first to report the presence of microplastics in Africa's Great Lakes and within the fish species that inhabit them

AB - Microplastic contamination in the African Great Lakes is currently unreported, and compared to other regions of the world little is known about the occurrence of microplastics in African waters and their fauna. The present study was conducted in the Mwanza region of Tanzania, located on the southern shore of Lake Victoria. The gastrointestinal tracts of locally fished Nile perch (Lates niloticus) and Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) were examined for plastics. Plastics were confirmed in 20% of fish from each species by Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. A variety of polymer types were identified with likely sources being urban waste and consumer use. Although further research is required to fully assess the impact of plastic pollution in this region, our study is the first to report the presence of microplastics in Africa's Great Lakes and within the fish species that inhabit them

KW - ATR-FTIR analysis

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