Microplastic Exposure and Distribution in the Coastal Aquaculture Input System

APECOceans and Fisheries Working Group March2024 Microplastic Exposure andDistribution in the CoastalAquaculture Input System APECOceans and Fisheries Working Group March2024 APEC Project:OFWG 03 2021A Produced by Viet Nam National UniversityIndonesia National Research & InnovationAgencyViet Nam National UniversityViet Nam NationalUniversityIndonesia National Research & InnovationAgencyIndonesia National Research & InnovationAgencyIndonesia National Research & InnovationAgencyIndonesiaNational Research & InnovationAgencyIndonesia National Research & InnovationAgencyIndonesia National Research & InnovationAgencyIndonesia Ministry of MarineAffairs andFisheriesUniversity of New South Wales, Sydney Dinh-Trinh TRAN, Assoc.Prof. Dr. EngHatim Albasri, Ph.D. (PO) Nhat-Minh DANG, Ph.D.Minh-Ngoc HA, Ph.D.Dr. Rinny Rahmania (Resc. Coord.) Dr. Dwiyitno Dr. Rasidi Dr. Reny Puspasari Lolita Thesiana S.Si., M.T. Indra Pratama S.Pi., M.Sc. Sitti Hamdiyah, S.Pi, M.Si. Prof. Jesmond Sammut ForAsia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Secretariat35 Heng Mui Keng TerraceSingapore 119616Tel: (65) 68919 600Fax: (65) 68919 690Email:info@apec.orgWebsite:www.apec.org ©2024APEC Secretariat APEC#224-OF-01.1 Executive Summary Microplasticpollution is becoming a major issuedue to therecent detectionofmicroplasticsin most ecosystems, withelevatedconcentrations detected in marineareas.Microplastics inthe environmentare expected to double in thecomingyearsifthere are noadequate mitigation measures.Microplastics, which are tiny plasticparticles measuring less than 5mm in length, have been found to have significantnegative impacts on both human health and the environment, particularly aquaticecosystems, as they can accumulate and leach toxic organic and inorganic pollutantsandheavy metals. Microplastics are also known for their stability and inability todegrade, meaning they can persist in the environment for decades.Consequently,microplastics enter the food chain of aquatic organisms andbioaccumulate intheirtissues, gradually working their way up the trophic levelsvia zooplankton, small fish,larger fish, and other organismsthatconsume them.Digestingthese pollutants has beenshown to have toxic effects on aquatic life.Microplastics have the potential to directlyaffect human health, as they can enter the human food chain through the consumptionof contaminated fish or other aquatic organisms. In addition to carrying toxic chemicals,microplastics can adsorb various contaminants, including antibiotics, due to their largesurface area, further exacerbating the problem of microplastictoxicity.Currently, thereis a lack of coherentregulatory frameworksand consistent standard methods fordefining microplastics in aquaculture systems. In addition, the available data onconcentrations of microplastics in the coastal aquaculture input chainarelimited andthere is no systematic mitigation plan to reduce macro/microplastics in coastalaquaculture systemsregionally and/or internationally.Therefore,asystematic andintegrated joint effort between economies is neededto deal withthisform ofmarinedebris pollution.APEC's strategic roleis toencourage initiatives to find solutions tothis problem so that the market share of seafood products exported by most APECeconomies is notimpeded. This report addresses the technical requirements to deliver the second output ofthe project"Determining Microplastics Distribution in Coastal Aquaculture InputSystems andDeveloping a Mitigation Plan towards Seafood Safety"aboutresearch based on information on the level and distribution of microplastics in the inputsystemof coastalaquaculture. Two large sampling campaignswereconducted in Indonesia (4consecutive days, from30 July to 2August 2023)and in VietNam (4consecutive days,from10to 13 August 2023). The sampling campaign in Indonesia was carried outinLampung Bay, Padang Cerminsub-district,Pesawaran district,Lampung province.Thesecond sampling campaignwas conducted in Hai Phonglocated on the east coast ofViet Nam. In total, 268 samples were collected, including 60 farmed fish, 20 farmedshrimp, 40 wild carnivorous fish, 40 trash fish, 36 commercial feeds, 24fishmeal, 12seawater from net cages and ponds, 18 sediment from net cages and beaches, 18sedimentsfrom shrimp ponds. They were divided into two fractions: 0.3-1 mm and 1-5mm, with a total of 536 samples analyzed. Different approved sample preparation andtreatment procedureswere applied to different types of samples such as water, sediment,GIT of fish and shrimp, commercial feed and meal. The analyses of microplastics wereperformed usingastereo microscope, FT-IR, micro-FT-RT, SEM, and EDX mapping.Allthe sample preparation/treatment and analyses were conducted within thelaboratories of VietNamNational University, Hanoi. The results showed that blue, green, black, yellow and white are among the mostabundant colors of microplastics collected in water, sediment, fish, shrimp, feed andmeal samples in Hai Phong, Viet Nam and L