• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content

Ocean Action Agenda

Ocean Action Agenda

Supporting regional ocean economies and ecosystems

header-right

Main navigation

  • Download Full Report
  • Contact

Related Actions

Ecosystems

Support healthy economies and ecosystems

Related Stories

Seal

The expansion of Papahānaumokuākea

Nonpoint source pollution

Nonpoint source pollution threatens the health of the Great Lakes

Florida Algae Bloom

Florida’s toxic algal bloom threatens economy, health, and environment

Share

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn

Healthy ecosystems

The far reaching impacts of plastic pollution

High above the waves, an albatross glides on the ocean breeze. With a sturdy six-foot wingspan, she has persevered through countless storms, travelled thousands of miles, and witnessed her environment change dramatically.  Her name is Wisdom, and she is a 64 year old Laysan albatross from the Northern Hawaiian Islands. While she is the world’s oldest known banded bird, her longevity is a shared trait with other albatross, which regularly reach 40 years of age. Laysan albatross take years to reach maturity, reproduce slowly, and mate for life.

Wisdom, the world’s oldest known banded bird, nests on Midway Island. (Image Credit: Daniel W Clark/USFWS).

Given their longevity, scientists are alarmed by the increasingly common sight of dead or dying albatross chicks on beaches across the Pacific. The problem is especially apparent on Midway Atoll, an important stopover for seabirds inside the recently expanded Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

Only 45 people live on Midway, a coralline outpost over 1,300 miles from Honolulu. Despite its isolation, Midway’s beaches are littered with buoys, bottle caps, cigarette butts, plastic bags, derelict fishing gear, and millions of tiny brightly colored plastic fragments.

An abundance of plastic has made the beaches of Midway hazardous for Wisdom, her chicks, and other marine life.

Albatross and other marine life, including sea turtles, often confuse plastic with their natural food source and ingest it in a case of mistaken identity. This plastic lingers in their stomachs and can fatally clog their digestive tract. In recent years, dead seabirds and sea turtles have been found with over 100 different plastic fragments lodged in their stomachs.

Plastic fragments have been found in the stomachs of many dead seabirds on Midway. (Image Credit: Chris Jordan).
Plastic fragments have been found in the stomachs of many dead seabirds on Midway. (Image Credit: Chris Jordan).

The origin of Midway’s plastic problem is an unfortunate byproduct of global ocean currents, known as gyres, which concentrate marine debris from across the globe in the center of the world’s ocean basins. The largest of these gyres, known colloquially as the Pacific Garbage Patch, is twice the size of Texas and located just southeast of Midway. As the ocean churns, much of this floating trash ends up strewn on beaches throughout the Pacific.

Plastic pollution has altered life for the creatures of Midway, but it also affects ecosystems and human health on an international scale.

Eight million tons of plastic wash into the ocean each year, from microbeads to fishing gear to large containers. That plastic leaches hormone disruptors, carcinogens, and other harmful chemicals into marine ecosystems, contaminating seafood and even our own bodies.

Since plastic pollution comes from many sources, it is inherently difficult to prevent or control. It is the ocean’s albatross, a dirty dilemma with no easy fix. While citizen science initiatives, beach clean ups, recycling programs, plastic bag taxes, and international commitments to reduce marine debris have all shown promise, cleaning the ocean will require sustained commitment and action by governments and consumers alike.

Global ocean currents, known as gyres, concentrate marine debris from across the globe in the center of the world’s ocean basins. The largest of these gyres, known colloquially as the Pacific Garbage Patch, is twice the size of Texas and located southeast of Midway Island. (Image Credit: NOAA).

Published in March, 2017, by the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative.

Support healthy economies and ecosystems
Stories
  • Start
  • Purpose
    • About the Report
    • About JOCI
  • Actions
    • Strong Coasts
    • Regional Collaboration
    • International Leadership
    • Science and Research
    • Arctic
    • Healthy Ecosystems
    • Fisheries
    • Offshore Energy
    • Ocean Investment Fund
  • Stories
    • Arctic
    • Atlantic
    • Great Lakes
    • Gulf of Mexico
    • Pacific
    • Pacific Islands

Main navigation

  • Download Full Report
  • Contact