PLASTIC POLLUTION IS KILLING SEABIRDS IN THE TASMAN SEA

Plastic pollution is causing a great damage to all living beings including the seabirds living on the Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea, which is between Australia and New Zealand. Many seabirds there are dying because their stomachs are literally too full of plastic to be able to eat any food. There is no room in their stomachs for food, so they are starving to death. Marine biologists on the island are now trying to save the birds by capturing thousands of chicks and physically removing plastic from their body to make it possible for them to survive.

Marine biologist Samantha Hudson says that the birds are predators that will eat anything. "When they find plastic in the ocean, they cannot distinguish plastic from non-plastic, so they eat it." Mother birds feed their chicks with plastic. Professor Hudson says that most of the plastic pollution is preventable. "We find plastic bags, bottles and toothbrushes. We can easily swap them out for other materials like aluminium or wood. My own toothbrush is made of bamboo."