A zero percent plastic ingestion rate by silver hake (Merluccius bilinearis) from the south coast of Newfoundland, Canada

Abstract

Silver hake, (Merluccius bilinearis), contributes significant biomass to Northwest Atlantic ecosystems. The incidence of plastic ingestion for 134 individuals collected from Newfoundland, Canada was examined through visual examination of gastrointestinal contents and Raman spectrometry. We found a frequency of occurrence of ingestion of 0%. Through a comprehensive literature review of globally published fish ingestion studies, we found our value to be consistent with 41% (n = 100) of all reported fish ingestion rates. We could not statistically compare silver hake results to other species due to low sample sizes in other studies (less than n = 20) and a lack of standardized sampling methods. We recommend that further studies should 1) continue to report 0% plastic ingestion rates and 2) should describe location and species-specific traits that may contribute to 0% ingestion rates, particularly in locations where fish consumption has cultural and economic significance.