Plastic in north sea fish.

To quantify the occurrence of ingested plastic in fish species caught at different geographical positions in the North Sea, and to test whether the fish condition is affected by ingestion of plastics, 1203 individual fish of seven common North Sea species were investigated: herring, gray gurnard, whiting, horse mackerel, haddock, atlantic mackerel, and cod. Plastic particles were found in 2.6% of the examined fish and in five of the seven species.