Incidence, mass and variety of plastics ingested by Laysan (Phoebastria immutabilis) and Black-footed Albatrosses (P. nigripes) recovered as by-catch in the North Pacific Ocean

• Published in: Marine pollution bulletin Vol. 64; no. 10; pp. 2190 - 2192
• Main Authors: Gray, Holly, Lattin, Gwendolyn L., Moore, Charles J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01-10-2012
• Subjects: absorption; adults; Albatross; Animals; Birds; bycatch; Chicks; Contaminants; Debris; Eating; Environmental Monitoring; Forages; foraging; Gastrointestinal Contents - chemistry; High frequencies; ingestion; long term effects; Marine; Marine debris; Pacific Ocean; Phoebastria immutabilis; Phoebastria nigripes; Plastic; Plastic ingestion; plastics; Plastics - analysis; Pollution abatement; Polymers; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; water pollution; Water Pollution, Chemical - statistics & numerical data; Pacific Ocean; IN, North Pacific; Plastic; Plastic ingestion; Phoebastria immutabilis; Marine debris; Albatross; Phoebastria nigripes
• ISSN: 0025-326X; 1879-3363
• DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2012.07.053

► We quantified plastic recovered from the diet of Laysan and Black-footed Albatrosses. ► Thirty of forty-seven albatross specimens examined contained ingested plastic. ► Between species, Laysan Albatrosses exhibited a higher frequency of ingested plastic. ► Of plastic varieties, fragments contributed the greatest mean mass in both species.
Laysan Albatrosses (Phoebastria immutabilis) and Black-footed Albatrosses (P. nigripes) ingest plastic debris, as evidenced by studies showing plastic in the digestive contents of their chicks, but there is little documentation of the frequency and amount of ingested plastics carried in foraging adults. In this study, we quantify plastics among the digestive contents of 18 Laysan Albatrosses and 29 Black-footed Albatrosses collected as by-catch in the North Pacific Ocean. We found ingested plastic in 30 of the 47 birds examined, with Laysan Albatrosses exhibiting a greater frequency of plastic ingestion (83.3% n=18) than Black-footed Albatrosses (51.7% n=29) (X2=4.8, df=1, P=0.03). Though the mass of ingested plastic in both species (mean±SD=0.463g±1.447) was lower than previously noted among albatross chicks, the high frequency of ingested plastic we found in this study suggests that long-term effects, e.g. absorption of contaminants from plastics, may be of concern throughout the population.