Navire | maritime
Bol alimentaire [lundi 19 octobre 2009]
October 2009 - These photographs of albatross chicks were made just a few weeks ago on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking.
To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, not a single piece of plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the actual stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world’s most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent.
Midway Atoll, in common with all the Hawaiian Islands, receives substantial amounts of debris from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Consisting of ninety percent plastic, this debris accumulates on the beaches of Midway. This garbage represents a hazard to the bird population of the island.
Of the 1.5 million Laysan Albatrosses which inhabit Midway, nearly all are found to have plastic in their digestive system. Approximately one-third of the chicks die from ingestion of this plastic.
1 commentaire
1. Le 16 janvier 2010, Stefan Wellershaus :
25 years ago I watched debris on the beaches of the German Bight near Hamburg. It was very much, and was derived from passing ships. And in the surface foam in the open North Sea many small particles were observed under the microscope. But there was no public interest nor any research programme. On the way from Bergen (Norway) to Cuxhaven (Germany) many black plastic bags with garbage were thown over bord in the night from the ferry boat. Sailormen drink much beer, in those days the empty bottles were thrown into the water. Asked on our research vessel why they do not take them back on land the answer was, there is no space on bord (though there was space for the filled bottles). I do not remember all observations, but - including me earlier, I regret - much was thrown into the sea. And on land even more.
My research was on heavy metals in estuaries. From the results we demanded from the industry not to use heavy metals any longer, or at least in processes from which none was ever released into nature. But of course this was a "foolish" demand.
Have a look into my collection of blogs under http://mein-abenteuer-mein-leben.blogspot.com/ where I also show a few photos on plankton. In one of the stories - see under "Verantwortung für das Leben tragen
( http://verantwortung-fuer-das-leben.blogspot.com )" : "Kinder gegen Technik: ... die Kinderwanderung" where I describe the fictitious action of kids against technique. There I show one of your very impressive and saddening fotos, may I? (The title of the story: "Children against technique, the kids´ wandering).
To me the only way out of the humans´ suicidal destruction of our life bases is to become very responsible, mindfull, caring for existence or whatsoever you may call it. This means the whole humanity to become so. Your collection of albatros babies helps to touch people and may help to make them more caring, especially the last picture with the oiled bird. He looks so sad.
Thank you for your valuable work and go on in this direction. May be be we can remain in contact (in English or German).
Greetings from the shores of the Baltic Sea from Aryaman Stefan Wellershaus.
Ajouter un commentaire
“navire”, carnets web | © 2010 laurent gloaguen.