11% of young shearwaters on Lord Howe Island die from plastic ingestion (1 Viewer)

An Australian Senate hearing has heard evidence that the scale of damage being done to seabird populations by discarded plastic and 'microplastics' is running at 11% for Lord Howe Island shearwaters. See http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/20...pollution_n_9255856.html?utm_hp_ref=australia.

This level of mortality on top of natural factors is likely an extinction driver (my opinion, but perhaps someone can do the calculation?):C:C:C
MJB

Thanks for bringing the Huffington Post article to our attention. I was on Lord Howe Island in 2008. Talks about the birds mentioned the problem of them ingesting plastic, and there was a display about it in the little museum. Of course, the problem does not arise from within Lord Howe Island, so the whole world needs to know about it, and act.