Effects of Micro Plastics on Fishes of Hooghly River, India

Abstract

Plastic pollution is now a concerning issue which destroying the riverine ecology silently. Excessive use of plastics & indifference to removing plastic waste after use gives birth to microplastics. Rivers are the major track way which can caught plastic debris from surrounding landside & contaminate the aquatic life without degraded the matter for a long time. The research was conducted on the Hooghly river near Barrackpore in the West Bengal region of India. The research explores the matter of microplastics contamination in various fish species of Hooghly river & effects of microplastics in the fish body according to the size, concentration, physical component & polymerase type of microplastic. Mainly 0.3 mm to 5 mm sizes microplastics have been noticed in both fish & shore sediments of this river site. Mostly the fiber & fragment type microplastics elements were damage the liver & gill of fish badly.