ghana news Microplastics found in fish: Threat to human health — CSIR-WRI research

Dr Bruce-Vanderpuije said the situation was worrying because plastic pollution was depleting Ghana's fishing economy while microplastics were killing fingerlings — juvenile fish — and now account for up to 20 per cent of net catch volume in some areas, cutting directly into the incomes of fishers along the coast.

She said the risk was amplified for small fish species that were eaten whole, or where the head, gut, and all were consumed, which accounted for 69 per cent of the plastic load found in the fish studied, a dietary pattern especially common among children and low-income households."This is not about avoiding fish; it is about protecting the water fish live in, because right now, plastic is costing our fishers up to 20 per cent of their catch, and costing all of us in ways we are only beginning to understand," she said.