Threatened seabirds are foraging at plastic pollution hotspots

Threatened seabirds are spending days and generally weeks foraging for meals round floating rubbish patches within the ocean, in response to a serious examine that warns worldwide motion to deal with plastic air pollution is urgently wanted.

The analysis used monitoring knowledge from greater than 7000 birds, mixed with plastic air pollution location knowledge, to map the plastic publicity danger of 77 species of petrel, a gaggle of migratory seabirds.

It discovered that 25 per cent of all plastic publicity for seabirds happens exterior nationwide jurisdictions, primarily at enormous floating patches of air pollution such because the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Birds can spend wherever from hours to weeks foraging for meals in these air pollution hotspots, says group member Bethany Clark on the charity BirdLife International.

“During the breeding season, they spend less time [at pollution hotspots] because they have to get back to feed their chicks. But that can still be many hours, and then in the non-breeding season, they can spend weeks,” she says.

Previous research have discovered that plastic can get caught up in seabirds’ stomachs, inflicting obstructions and poisoning. Petrels have additionally been proven to regurgitate plastic air pollution to feed to their chicks.

Worryingly, among the most threatened birds, resembling shearwaters and Hawaiian petrels, are among the many species with probably the most publicity to ocean plastic.

“It’s concerning for us that some of these really threatened species are also suffering from having to feed in areas with lots of plastic,” says Clark.

Given that a big proportion of plastic publicity takes place past nationwide jurisdictions, Clark is asking for nations to work collectively on international options to deal with the sources of air pollution.

Cracking down on plastic waste from fishing vessels and lowering the usage of single-use plastics could be efficient first steps, she says.

Countries are additionally working below the United Nations course of to attract up a world, legally binding treaty to curb plastic air pollution, which may come into drive from 2025.

The examine solely thought of the publicity danger skilled by the birds, somewhat than assessing how a lot plastic was truly ingested by totally different populations and species.

That is an space for future analysis, says group member Lizzie Pearmain on the University of Cambridge. “For future studies, if we find that two different populations have more or less plastic ingestion than expected just from the spatial overlap, then we can start to understand whether they are actively avoiding it, or more likely to ingest it,” she says.