CEFAS856641f5-81f1-48f0-867d-b2f01018acc4 English dataset Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory Pakefield Road Lowestoft Suffolk NR33 0HT UK data.manager@cefas.co.uk pointOfContact 2025-06-06T12:48:52 EPSG Geodetic Parameter Registry 2022-01-07 revision WGS 84 Microplastic contamination data from mussels from the UK in 2022 2024-11-27 publication 2025-06-06 revision 2024-11-27 creation CEFAS22083 https://data.cefas.co.uk This dataset records microplastic (MP) contamination in mussels from the UK (7 stations around England and Wales) collected in November 2022. Data includes MP load per mussel, recorded per individual and per gram of tissue wet weight. The dataset is split between six files: fluorescent items only (results per individual, results per gram, and a file describing each item collected e.g. clear filament, 100 microns long, polyethylene) and all items including non-fluorescent items (per individual, per gram, item description). Microlitter (ML) includes non-plastic items such as rubber and cellulose-based fibres. Mass was recorded as wet weight. Also included are text files for long format data used in analysis in R Studio. CleanAtlantic is an Interreg-funded initiative (2017 - 2023) with consortium partners from across Europe, including the UK, Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal. The initiative aimed to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Atlantic Area by improving capabilities to monitor, prevent and remove marine litter. The data here originated from work package: Mapping and modelling of marine litter, action 3: Indicators for ingestion and entanglement. CleanAtlantic was coordinated by CETMAR (Centro Tecnológico del Mar) and included 14 core partners and 4 associated partners. Cefas played a significant role, contributing to multiple work packages and research outputs. This data was collected for CleanAtlantic to determine whether mussels were a suitable sentinel species for microplastics in the North Atlantic. Fluorescent data was compared to mussels from France and Spain. `CleanAtlantic – CleanAtlantic project`_ .. _`cleanatlantic – cleanatlantic project`: https://www.cleanatlantic.eu/ Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory Pakefield Road Lowestoft Suffolk NR33 0HT UK data.manager@cefas.co.uk originator Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory Pakefield Road Lowestoft Suffolk NR33 0HT UK data.manager@cefas.co.uk custodian Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory (CEFAS) Cefas Lowestoft Laboratory Pakefield Road Lowestoft Suffolk NR33 0HT UK data.manager@cefas.co.uk distributor European Commission info@publications.europa.eu owner notPlanned Mollusc GEMET, version 1.0 2008-06-01 publication Habitats and biotopes GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 2008-06-01 publication Unknown SeaVoX Vertical Co-ordinate Coverages 2010-05-18 revision Marine Environmental Data and Information Network MEDIN metadata record availability 2012-01-11 publication data.gov.uk MEDIN metadata record availability 2012-01-11 publication otherRestrictions noLimitations otherRestrictions Publicly available data licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 ( `https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/`_ ) – Please note the applicable attribution statement is as follows: ‘includes Crown copyright, Cefas 2025' .. _`https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/`: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ English environment 1.73881 1.74086 52.4581 52.4595 2022-11 2025-06-06 Binary Delimited Unknown https://data.cefas.co.uk/view/22083 Cefas Data Portal download The Cefas Data Portal contains metadata records and data sets available to download and connect to in support of our commitment to open science. Data is available in the following formats: Binary download, CSV. dataset INSPIRE Data Specification on Habitats and Biotopes – Technical Guidelines 2013-12-10 publication false See the referenced specification Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services 2010-12-08 publication true See the referenced specification Mussels were collected as part of the Food Standards Agency's assessment of harmful algal blooms. Excess mussels were reserved for microplastic analysis. The mussel tissue was rinsed to remove external microplastic contamination and then digested in potassium hydroxide (15% KOH) and sodium hypochlorite (2% chlorine), sonicated for 5 minutes and then incubated in a shaker at 40 °C 120 revolutions per minutes for three days. Following this, 40 millilitres of degreaser (Elbow Grease) was added and incubated for a further day. Microplastics are extracted by filtering the solution over a GF/D (glass fibre) filter. Nile red dye was added and left for 30 minutes to stain the plastics so that they fluoresce. Under a binocular microscope microplastics were counted and categorised by shape, size and colour. Plastic polymers were identified using micro FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) comparing to polymer libraries (Attenuated Total Reflectance [ATR]-FTIR-library complete, volume 1-4; Bruker Optics ATR-Polymer Library; Infrared [IR]-Spectra of Polymers, Diamond -ATR, Geranium-AT & IR-Spectra of Additives, Diamond-ATR). Only matches above 60% were accepted. For quality control purposes, plastic standards were tested with the FTIR at the start of each analysis. Data was quality checked internally prior to publication. Lab procedural blanks were used to account for potential contamination during analysis. Linked below is data on macrofauna abundance on macrolitter samples, also collected as part of CleanAtlantic. Macrofauna abundance matrix for each taxa identified from litter samples, sorted by station. This is a combination of litter samples from the CEND 18/20 and CEND 06/21 CSEMP (Clean Safe Seas Environmental Monitoring Programme) surveys. The litter items are labelled with the station code and unique litter item and arranged in columns. The taxa names are listed in the rows. Corresponding abundance data for each taxa found on the litter item at that station is listed throughout the matrix. MEDIN 3.1.1