A UAF graduate student has found microplastics in the stomachs of spotted seals harvested in the Bering Strait region.

Discovery prompts fear that melting ice will allow more plastic to be released back into the oceans. Traces of 17 different types of plastic were found in frozen seawater.

Researchers looked inside the stomachs of 34 spotted seals that were collected in Gambell and Shishmaref in 2012 and 2020. Of those, 33 contained microplastics.