November 5, 2019 — A federal grant will help two University of Delaware researchers look at the impact of microplastics on blue crabs.
The researchers will use the $327,000 grant to examine crab larvae exposure to microplastics in the Delaware Bay.
Microplastics are the size of sesame seeds. Microbeads, a type of microplastics, can easily pass through water filtration systems and end up in lakes and oceans.
Estella Atekwana is dean of the College of Earth, Ocean and Environment. She says they hope to determine how microplastics enter the larvae.
“For us to understand the different exposure pathways where this plastics get into the seafood or marine life and within the food chain and how does this eventually get to humans,” she said. “It’s really early on, I’m not so sure that we truly understand the different pathways.”