Pacific bird refuge struggles as ocean garbage patch grows

Flying into uninhabited rthwestern Hawaiian Islands, Midway Atoll appears out of vast blue Pacific as a tiny oasis of coral-fringed land with pristine white sand beaches that are teeming with life. But on ground, re’s a different scene: plastic, pollution and death. With virtually predators, Midway is a haven for many species of seabirds and is home to largest colony of albatross in world.

But Midway is also at center of Great Pacific Garb Patch, a vast area of floating plastic collected by circulating oceanic currents. Hawaiian Islands act like a comb that gars debris as it floats across Pacific. A recent analysis found that patch is accumulating debris at a faster rate than scientists previously thought. Midway is littered with bird skeletons that have brightly colored plastic protruding from ir decomposing bellies. Bottle caps, toothbrushes and cigarette lighters sit in centers of ir feary carcasses. “re isn’t a bird that doesn’t have some (plastic),” said Athline Clark, National Oceanic and Atmospheric ministration’s superintendent for Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, which Midway is part of. y “fill ir bellies up with plastics inste of food and eventually eir choke or just don’t have eugh room for actual urishment and perish.”

Sharp plastic pieces can also perforate ir intestines and esophagus. Papahanaumokuakea, which qurupled in size under President Barack Obama in 2016, is world’s largest marine conservation area and was inscribed in 2010 as a UNESCO mixed World Herit site. “Papahanaumokuakea is both a biologically rich and culturally sacred place,” Clark said. “ Hawaiians call it a place of abundance, or aina momona.”

But circulating currents w bring an abundance of plastic and or trash from all around Pacific Rim to Hawaii’s beaches. debris ranges from tiny microplastics that nearly every animal in this marine ecosystem ingests to huge fishing nets that gar plants, animals and or debris while bulldozing across fragile coral reefs. “ estimates are that re’s about 57,000 pounds of marine debris that washes ashore within this part of archipelago annually,” Clark said. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Kelly Goodale lives and works on Midway, site of a decisive World War II battle , and said plastic that washes ashore re each year is just part of problem. “t only are our beaches getting it, but also our albatross will bring it and feed it to ir chicks,” Goodale said.

Albatross spend much of ir lives at sea feeding and flying thousands of miles across oceans before returning to Midway each year to lay eggs and raise ir young. “So we estimate about 5 tons (4.5 metric tons) of plastic being brought to Midway every year just by ult albatross feeding it to ir chicks,” Goodale said. albatross tend to seek out squid eggs that attach mselves to floating pieces of plastic, which is why so many birds are eating material, Clark said.

And it’s t just seabirds that are harmed by ocean plastic. Endangered Hawaiian monk seals and green sea turtles can die while entangled in plastic nets. Sharks and or apex predators eat smaller fish that feed on microplastic. Whales drag fishing line and buoys behind m during ir long migrations across world’s oceans. It’s important to understand relationship between oceans, marine life and humans, Clark said. She shared a Native Hawaiian proverb: “Ma o ke kai pili ai kakou.” It means, “ ocean connects us all.”