ИСТИНА

Microplastics (plastic particles 0.1 µm to 5 mm in size) are globally recognised as a threat for the Oceans as declared in 2008/56/EC Marine Strategy Framework Directive, Descriptor 10 and United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14 target 14.1.1. Global production of plastic items that go into Oceans increases dramatically, up to 12.7 x 109 kg of plastic material estimated to have entered the Oceans in 2010 alone. Plastic items degrade in the marine environment into the smaller particles (microplastics) that become bioavailable for a wide range of marine fauna including benthic invertebrates. Ingestion of microplastics by marine fauna of different levels of food web is documented and is also shown to have a negative impact on physiology including growth, energy intake, reproduction. In this study we investigated food content of stomachs of a non-native benthic crustacean, snow crab Chionoecetes opilio from the south-eastern Barents Sea, the Pechora Sea. The snow crab is an important commercial species with a fishery started in 2016. Bycatch of the snow crab was recorded for the first time in 1996 in the Barents Sea, and later in 2003 it was also found in the Pechora Sea, thereafter forming a self-producing population and predicted to further grow in numbers. Snow crabs are benthic omnivores feeding on macrobenthic invertebrates in the area. According to the morphological combined with isotopic analysis of stomach content, diet of the snow crab comprised 20 categories of food items with key contributions from bivalve molluscs (including Astarte eliptica, Mytilus edulis, Cliatocardium ciliatum, Ennucula tenuis and others), polychaetes and holothuroidea Cucumaria hyndmani. Microplastic fibres were recorded in 35% of stomachs. Potential sources of microplastic contamination and mitigation measures are discussed.