The bay scallop, Argopecten irradians, is a coastal shallow-water marine bivalve native to the Eastern coast of the United States. They range from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to the Gulf of Mexico. Populations of bay scallops faced largescale decline in the early 1900s yet continued to support a substantial fishery until populations crashed in the 1980s; populations have never recovered in part due to the loss of eelgrass coverage and degraded water quality. Concurrently, mass-production of plastic products began in the mid-1900s, and are now widely used in maritime industries. Globally, plastics comprise 80% of marine debris. Not only can plastics fragment into smaller micro- and nano- sized particles, they can leach chemicals into the surrounding water, potentially contributing to water quality issues. In New England, aquaculture and fishing industries are vital components of the economy, contributing significantly to employment, revenue generation, and overall economic prosperity in the region. Nantucket, Massachusetts is home to the last commercial wild-caught A. irradians fishery. Natural populations of the bay scallop are supported by release of cultivated spat by the town’s hatchery.
The aim of this exploratory study was to determine if leachates from two common fishery and maritime plastic products would impact the survival or growth of A. irradians larvae. Experiments were conducted during June and July of 2023 at the Nantucket Shellfish Hatchery. Leachates were produced from composite rope and polyethylene Netron. The rope and Netron were cut into pieces weighing 0.5, 1, and 5 grams and placed into separate 1 liter glass jars to be incubated at ambient water temperatures in the dark for 10 days to produce the leachate. The water was then filtered through a combusted GF/C filter to obtain the leachate for exposure testing. D-stage larvae ranging from 2-4 days old were used in the experiments.
The image above shows both live and dead larvae from the experiments. Preliminary findings suggest a potential relationship between plastic leachate exposure and decreased survival rates among the larvae, highlighting the urgent need for further investigation into the toxicological impacts of plastic pollution on marine life.