Midway Island, North Pacific Ocean

A shocking film from Midway Island in the North Pacific Ocean. The island receives considerable amounts of marine waste direct from The Great Pacific garbage patch also known as the Pacific trash vortex. The patch or vortex is so-called because of the plastics, chemical waste and other junk that has become trapped there by the currents of the North Pacific.

There are some 1.5 million Albatrosses that inhabit Midway and surrounding islands nearly all are found to have digested plastic. It is believed the albatrosses mistake the brightly coloured plastics for marine prey such as squid and fish. Nearly 30% of the chicks die as they do not develop the regurgitate reflex until they are four months old and cannot expel the plastic pieces. An albatross here can have over half of its intestinal tract filled with plastic.