Midway Pollution

When I wrote my essay Midway Recollections in November, it was my intent to prepare one lengthy essay covering all that I had to say.  Once again there just was too much material for one essay and I decided to split my presentation into two parts.  Where Midway Recollections reviewed some historical information relative to the formation of the atoll and discussed primarily war-time conditions on the islands, this essay will review contemporary Midway and the sea trash which is destroying one of Nature’s greatest contributions to our world, the Albatross.  There are many bird varieties on Midway, but it is the Albatross which is most endangered. 

Albatross

There are two distinctly different versions of the Midway Atoll:  In one, as described in my first essay Midway - Recollections where the water is clear, the beaches are pristine and the many varieties of birds are doing well.  This describes the prewar Midway of the cable station and the Pan American stopping point for its Orient bound China Clipper.   Sand Island was primarily used commercially and Eastern Island was established as a military base with its three air strips.  Sand Island didn't get air strips until well into the war.

Sand Island

Eastern Island

The atoll has a pleasant temperate climate with mild winters thanks to prevailing winds and the Japanese current which skirts the islands to the north.  Unfortunately, this same current has much to do with the problems facing contemporary Midway.  More on this later. 

There are at least seven major bird breeds:  The frigate bird, fairy tern, brown noddy, booby bird, mynah bird and, of course, the white and black gooney birds - our friend, the Albatross.

Mynah bird (2)

Fairy Tern

Fairy Tern chicks

Brown Noddy chick

A first time visit to the atoll could be overwhelming.  The sheer numbers of birds easily in the tens of thousands is not what one normally experiences.  And while nesting, all are territorial.  Approach a nest, if you will, but get to close and they will defend their ground.  This is especially true of the gooney birds who can inflict a nasty cut with their snapping beaks.  During the time before the chicks start hatching, the nesting gooneys will be especially protective and their snapping beaks will follow your walk wherever you go.

Frigate Bird

Once the chicks are born both parents take turns feeding the little ones regurgitated fish and it is here that the chicks begin to eat a diet of regurgitated fish mixed with tiny pieces of plastic which the parents have picked up at sea.  It is the accumulation of indigestible plastic in the stomach of the chick that eventually causes the chick to starve in an agonizing, slow death.

The parents are not immune to this slow death, it just takes longer.

Were does this plastic come from?

One source is plastic water bottles.  The Record of Bergen County, New Jersey reported in 2004 that Americans alone buy about 28 billion (BILLION) bottles of water every year with 80% of these bottles ending in land fills or the oceans.  Add to this, other plastic products, and the volume of  plastic garbage entering our oceans every year is astronomical.  Much of the plastc trash breaks into smaller pieces, some microscopically small, which birds and fish will take in with their normal foods.  Some of these particles will pass through the birds digestive system, but much will be retained.  This is especially true of the Albatross who store their fish intake in their gut where it mixes with stored plastic to be served to their chicks as regurgitated food when the parents return to their nest.  These plastic particles, this sea trash, are retained by the young.  As the feedings continue so does the accumulation of plastic particles in the little ones' gut, with each successive feeding increasing the volume of retained plastic such that the chick has no room for food and water and starves to death

Approximately 40,000 Albatross chicks die each year from starvation. 

As bad as the sea trash is, the Fukushima, Japan nuclear accident spawned by the 50' tsunami wall of water from the off-shore earthquake added its own debris to the Pacific Ocean.  The Japanese current flowing west to east north of the Midway Atoll took additional tons of debris from Fukushima including small particles and, in at least one known case, a fishing boat and a large section of a pier.  The latter beached on California's coastline and had to be removed at great expense; the fishing boat was declared a menace to navigation and was sunk by gunfire from a U.S. Coastguard cutter.  But it was the smaller particles of debris that added to the death of the fish and birds.

The Japanese current takes approximately one year to deliver the average-sized debris across the North Pacific Ocean and half that time to bring the debris in range of Midway's birds.  For years, dating back to peace-time, large inflated balls of glass or plastic which have broken loose from the fishing nets of Japanese fishermen, have found their way to Midway's beaches.  Much too large to cause birds or fish any problems, they were either destroyed or retained as souvenirs.     

The return flow of Pacific currents, called the North Equatorial, flows off the California coast, west to the Orient to replace the Japanese current.  In so doing a sub-tropical convergence zone is formed in which three garbage patches may be found.  The two major and more prominent patches are found, one near where the Japanese current starts its track east and the second off the coast of California before the return current flows west.  Between these two garbage patches may be found a much larger in area garbage patch, but with less sea trash volume, located around the Midway Atoll and one of the feeding grounds of the sea birds.

Brown Booby

All three patches cover acres of sea surface, but are not located exclusively on the surface.  Debris may be found at different depths and often in constant motion.  Current research hasn't confirmed the extent of debris on the ocean floor, but it does exist.

Albatross Chick

If you think that sea trash is an exclusive problem of Midway, think again!  Trash by the ton may be found in the waters off New Zea- land, Australia other Pacific islands, and the big islands of the Hawaiian chain, especially Kauai where you can dig your hand in the beach sand and expose minute particles of plastic sea trash.

Sea of Trash

The steady flow of sea trash shows no signs of abating, but indications point to an increase due to the popularity of plastic for ever new uses.  The photos which follow were taken by Chris Jordan and his staff during visits to Midway for attempted clean-ups and research.  The photos show the eviscerated bodies of Albatross, dead from starvation, exhibiting the extent of the contents of their gut.  What follows is not plasant viewing and may be disturbing to some viewers: 

Recycle your plastic and save these beautiful birds.

November 2014
LFC