Plastic in the ocean, according to Richard Rowlett,...
> > *is* hopeless. We've all done screwed up already and it's irreversible.
The
> > best we can do now is to just not make it worse and continue cleaning up as
> > best we can.

And Clarice Clark recalled Midway Atoll, stating the...
> plastic problem there is equally dramatic and depressing.

I agree. And I agree.

After four stints at Midway, I still haven't gotten used to seeing albatross
deaths related to plastic ingestion. As Clarice pointed out, the plastics
themselves apparently are not toxic, but they fill space in chicks' digestive
systems, space thus made unavailable for a rich slurry of squid bits and
stomach oils, the nutritious regurgitant brought by parents. Young albatrosses
can starve with full stomachs and regular feedings.

Another risk to albatross chicks is through regurgitating pellets that hold
indigestible materials. This ought to be squid beaks and the like for Laysan
albatrosses, but typically includes toothbrushes, combs, lighters,
squirt-bottle tops, and various shards of plastic. Some of these pieces are so
unwieldly that they lodge in the throats of months-old albatrosses, with an
oft-predictable result: death.

Floating plastics affect other seabirds, too. Crested Auklets and other
planktivores in the Aleutian Islands gobble up tiny bits of plastic, which take
up residence in the digestive tracts of these alcids. Still, "good scientists"
often are reticent to link plastic ingestion with increased mortality, because
such cause-effect relationships are difficult to measure in nature. However,
the lack of conclusive evidence shouldn't preclude bird lovers from becoming
incensed about the well-being of plastic-stuffed seabirds.

Plastics harming birds is nothing new: dump-feeding gulls have for decades
gotten caught in discarded 6-pack rings. But these unlucky larids are only the
tip of the plastics iceberg.
--
Scott Richardson
northeast Seattle
salix at halcyon.com
http://www.halcyon.com/salix/swm_what.htm