Source: Inside Climate News, 1/28/26
'One-third of fish living in Pacific island waters—like Fiji's thumbprint emperor or Vanuatu's dash-and-dot goatfish—are contaminated with microplastics, according to data published Wednesday by researchers at the University of the South Pacific. Commonly misperceived to be a remote wilderness insulated from global waste, this study establishes the first regional baseline of Pacific marine microplastic ingestion. Such pollution threatens delicate ecosystems and the coastal populations who rely on fish as a primary source of protein.'