Garbage Patch news – giant seabirds gorge on plastic

Posted by Murielle in Videos & Documentaries, climate change, sustainable living, 1 Nov 2009, 0

The massive area of floating plastic and trash, collectively referred to as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, is in fact two regions of rubbish created by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre. One lies between the California and the Hawaiian Islands, while the other is situated between Hawaii and Japan. Confusingly, both sections are alternately referred to as the Western Garbage Patch and the Eastern Garbage Patch. I guess it depends on perspective, after all the Earth is round, so one person’s east is another’s west.

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

The section of the patch that has received less media attention is the part between Hawaii and Japan. A recent article in Scientific American describes how the albatross population of Kure Atoll, a remote northwestern Hawaiian Island, has been literally gorging itself on plastic from the Garbage Patch. The Kure Atoll albatross ingest as much as 10 times the amount of plastic of the birds living on Oahu, the most populous island of Hawaii located 2,150km away – towards California. This suggests that the concentration of plastic waste – at least around Kure Atoll – is even worse than in the more researched areas of the Gyre.

The video below is a necropsy of an albatross chick from Kure Atoll conducted by researchers from the Department of Zoology, Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology Program at the University of Hawaii. This particular Laysan albatross chick had 306 pieces of plastic inside it.

Albatross Necropsy Video

Kure Atoll is home to a diverse ecosystem and is an important nesting area for monk seals. Its 80,000 acres of coral reef teem with dolphins, jacks, sharks, goatfish, chub, dragon morays, knifejaws, masked angelfish and rare native grouper.

In 2003 alone 2700 pounds of marine debris was removed from Kure, including 997 pounds removed from accumulation study areas that were cleaned of all marine debris just the year before.

– papahanaumokuakea.gov

For more info check out this slideshow of plastic debris found in the Gyre from Mother Jones Magazine and this very informative graphic on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Mother Jones also conducted this interview with scientists from Project Kaisei who had just returned from a trip to the Patch.

‘Journey to the Pacific Garbage Patch’