Lesson 5: Campus Debris Survey

Lesson 5 Presentation Content Engage Explore Explain Elaborate Evaluate – Litter and Albatross – Litter on Our Campus – Analyzing Results – Our Litter and Albatross – Spreading the Word

Engage Litter and Albatross

Marine Debris Definition Trash and other floating items (seeds, wood, coconuts) are found in all oceans – on the surface, the bottom, and washed up on beaches. NOAA’s Marine Debris definition: any persistent solid material that is manufactured or processed and directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally, disposed of or abandoned into the marine environment or the Great Lakes. Any human-made persistent solid material that makes its way into the marine environment or the Great Lakes is termed Marine Debris.

Pop Quiz: If these items went into the ocean … which ones are NOT Marine Debris sandwich: man-made but not persistent (not marine debris) coconut: not man-made and persistent (not marine debris)

Where do Albatross Find Floating Food and Trash? Albatrosses spend the majority of their lives in the open ocean searching for food.

Albatross Foraging Journeys Scientists tracked albatross from Kure Atoll and Tern Island in the Northwestern Hawaiian chain. The different colors are a single migration path of an individual Black-footed Albatross adult.

Adult Albatross Feeding a Large Chick Albatross do not eat plastic washed up on beaches, rather they ingest plastic trash floating in the open ocean where their natural prey is found and then they return to deliver meals to their chicks.

Skeleton of an Albatross Chick Plastic Ingestion Skeleton of an Albatross Chick In every nesting colony in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, you can find skeletons of chicks with stomachs full of our plastic trash. Over the years, the interior of these islands have become littered with plastic that was transported in the stomach of two albatross – the parent and then their chick. Discuss why this is wrong? Morally Ecologically Other perspectives…

Stimulate discussion using this image. - What if it were people that ended up eating the marine debris? - Can the plastic (and the associated chemical pollution) that enters marine food webs end up affecting people?

Imagine finding this in your food? On average, albatross chicks are fed 25 grams of plastic in the 4 months before they fledge (Kure Atoll, Oikonos-HPU data).  If scaled to the size of a high school senior, that is the equivalent weight of 150 bottle caps inside your stomach.

Explore Litter and Our Campus

Is there litter on our school campus? What kind of litter do we have on our campus? What does this have to do with marine debris? How could this litter enter the ocean?

Hypothesis We predict that the most common types of debris on campus will be ? ____________________

Explain Analyzing Results

Let’s analyze our data Example data from a school campus. Students can create graphs representing their data on paper, computer programs, or by other creative means.

Elaborate Our Litter and Albatross

International Coastal Cleanup Each September, an international volunteer beach cleanup effort takes place. You can organize a clean up of your community anytime. Ideas and recommendations from the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup website: http://www.oceanconservancy.org/

Data from International Cleanups: Ask students to make some comparisons with these percentages from the International Coastal Cleanup. Which are most common? How do these Ocean Conservancy data compare to the data they collected? Why? Source: http://www.oceanconservancy.org/our-work/marine-debris/2012-data-release.html Data Credit: Ocean Conservancy.org

How can we tell which Marine Debris Items can have Ecological Impacts? Type: Some items (like nets and plastic bags) can entangle animals Size: Small items can be eaten by birds, fish, and marine mammals Longevity: Some items will last a lot longer in the ocean. As items age, they break down into smaller pieces Discuss some of the factors that may make a piece of trash more or less threatening in the marine environment and animals.

Pieces from Larger Items Make Up the Majority of Marine Debris Most of the monofilament line in albatross boluses is actually unraveled pieces of netting or rope. Likewise, most of the hard plastic fragments are broken pieces of larger consumer items that are degrading in the ocean, such a this bucket.

Many different animals ingest marine debris Plastics can block or even puncture the digestive tracts of many species. In the case of albatross, they naturally ingest hard items (squid beaks, floating pumice and seeds) and evolved the ability to throw up things they cannot digest in the form of a bolus. A large proportion of albatross chicks survive by emptying their stomachs before fledging. Scientists do not know how many albatross chicks die from ingesting plastic. It likely puts them at risk of dehydration, nutrient deficiency, and absorbing chemicals. It is often very difficult to prove how an animal died. There are other seabirds, fish, and mammals that do not naturally regurgitate hard parts. How will these animals cope with eating our trash?

Marine animals also become entangled Common trash, fishing gear, and other debris can entangle many marine and aquatic animals, including fish, seabirds, ducks, seals and whales. Over 260 marine species have been known to ingest or become entangled in marine debris, including 86% of all sea turtle species, 44% of all seabird species, and 43% of all marine mammal species (source Laist 1997, not including fish or invertebrates). These numbers are certainly much higher now. In the North Pacific, a review study of seabird ingestion showed 76% of all species studied ingest some degree of plastic (61 out of 88 seabird species sampled 88 ; Oikonos and partners data). affects at least 267 species worldwide, (Laist, 1997).

People are part of marine Food-Webs You are what you eat Marine animals that humans like to eat can ingest plastic as well. Scientists are studying the stomachs of popular commercial fish and finding more plastic. This Mahi Mahi, or Dolphin Fish, had a broken piece of green plastic crate inside its stomach. Photo by David Hyrenbach on a Sea Education Association cruise from Hawaii to California.

Most Marine Debris comes from Land Litter enters the marine environment through many pathways: Some are short and direct: such as, a sand shovel left behind at the beach Others are longer: such as, a balloon floating away in the breeze And others can be even longer: such as, trash flowing down a river Discuss the life cycle of some items you use of at home, school, or on vacation and how they might end up in the ocean.

Watersheds Credit: EPA Nearly all rivers and streams eventually lead to the ocean, lakes, or estuaries. Small creeks and streams join larger rivers, which flow to bays and sounds, and eventually the ocean. When it rains, materials on land, including soil, chemicals, and litter, are carried through runoff to bodies of water. The land area that drains into a body of water is known as its watershed. Environmental Protection Agency defines a watershed as the area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains off of it goes into the same place. Some are small, others are large, some are very large (the Mississippi river).

For those that live inland, trash flows from local creeks and streams to rivers, and then to the ocean. Help students to think about your local watersheds.

Ahupua‘a – the Traditional Hawaiian Watershed Management System The traditional system of land division for Hawaiians, ahupua‘a, includes areas from the mountain to the sea. Discuss with students why this system makes sense in terms of a watershed-based approach. What happens upstream affects downstream.

Prevention: Storm Drain Stencil Ask students to be on the lookout for storm drains in their neighborhoods. In most areas, these drain directly into bodies of water. What are the implications of this fact? Have them pay attention after rain or windy weather to notice changes.

Prevention: Single Use vs. Reusable Items Discuss with students the types of items that are used just one time versus those that are reusable. How can they move towards more reusable items in their lives?

Evaluate Spreading the Word

Who’s Responsible? Stewardship is Everyone’s Kuleana The Hawaiian term Kuleana describes  a person’s responsibility to themselves and his/her community. Responsibility means taking accountability for your own actions and your contribution to the problem and the solution.

Artwork made from trash Different examples of outreach to share student’s new knowledge with their peers and communities. Susan Scott is a biologist, sailor and artist in Hawaii. She inspires interest in beach trash by creating turtles and murals that travel around to schools and art shows.

Stickers for the Community Different examples of outreach to share student’s new knowledge with their peers and communities. Sophie Webb created this watercolor for a project by Oikonos and the CA Coastal Commission.

What will your message be ?

Use Agreement This presentation was developed for Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary and Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument by Meghan Marrero of Mercy College and Oikonos - Ecosystem Knowledge. Teachers, educators, researchers and students may incorporate these materials into their lesson plans, presentations, and worksheets in hard copy and digital format for internal educational use only, not into any publication for external distribution.  All photos, art, video and data have been contributed free of charge to create this product for educational use. Content may be copyrighted and/or owned by individuals and entities other than, and in addition to, NOAA and Oikonos. Credits for all the media are embedded or included, please retain credits when reproducing. No organization or person (whether an educational body or not) may incorporate this material into any media for promotional or commercial purpose whatsoever.  Please contact Oikonos or NOAA to request further use of any images, art, video, data or text included in this presentation  – we will contact contributing authors. Contact: WingedAmbassadors@oikonos.org All resources for this curriculum are available at : www.cordellbank.noaa/gov/education/teachers.html www.papahanaumokuakea.gov/education/wa.html www.oikonos.org/education   Use Agreement This presentation was developed for Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary and Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument by Meghan Marrero of Mercy College and Oikonos - Ecosystem Knowledge. Teachers, educators, researchers and students may incorporate these materials into their lesson plans, presentations, and worksheets in hard copy and digital format for internal educational use only, not into any publication for external distribution.  All photos, art, video and data have been contributed free of charge to create this product for educational use. Content may be copyrighted and/or owned by individuals and entities other than, and in addition to, NOAA and Oikonos. Credits for all the media are embedded or included, please retain credits when reproducing. No organization or person (whether an educational body or not) may incorporate this material into any media for promotional or commercial purpose whatsoever.  Please contact Oikonos or NOAA to request further use of any images, art, video, data or text included in this presentation  – we will contact contributing authors. Contact: WingedAmbassadors@oikonos.org All resources for this curriculum are available at : www.cordellbank.noaa/gov/education/teachers.html www.papahanaumokuakea.gov/education/wa.html www.oikonos.org/education

Lesson 5 Campus Debris Survey Engage – Litter and Albatross   Marine Debris Definition Pop Quiz Where Do Albatross Find Food? Feeding a Chick Skeleton of an Albatross Chick Where does Your Garbage Go? Explore – Litter and Our Campus Is there Litter on Your Campus? Hypothesis Explain – Analyzing Results Let’s Analyze Elaborate – Our Litter and Albatross International Coastal Cleanup Data Marine Debris Ecological Impacts Pieces from Larger Items Species Ingest Marine Debris Species become Entangled in Marine Debris You are What You Eat Most Marine Debris Comes from Land Watersheds Hawaiian Watershed Management Prevention Examples Evaluate –Spread the Word Stewardship – Kuleana Outreach Examples