World Albatross Day And What We Can Do To Help Them

Today is the 2nd annual World Albatross Day and Birds Canada used some of my photos in their recent article.

You can check it out HERE

Short-tailed Albatross offshore from Tofino - Photo: Melissa Hafting

Laysan Albatross offshore fromTofino - Photo: Melissa Hafting

Every year we lose more and more Albatrosses (and other birds and mammals/cetaceans) to the commercial fishing industry. It is important as consumers that we know where our seafood comes from and that we support sustainable fishing practices. You can simply start by eating at restaurants that serve Oceanwise seafood or purchasing seafood that has the OceanWise label in your local grocery store.

Another thing that is not mentioned in the article but dramatically impacts the survival of Albatross is plastics. We must eradicate our use of single use plastics!. The majority of it ends up in the landfills and oceans and in the stomach of adult seabirds and their chicks. It also ends up in the bellies of whales and sea turtles.. and well you get the picture, I could go on and on. If we don't do something soon there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean!

It is a myth that most plastics can be recycled. In fact most plastics can't be recycled... as I said most of it ends up in our landfills and oceans. If you didn't know this, I invite you to watch this video.


Check out this video filmed recently in Vancouver which shows how much microplastic comes from our sewage treatment plants and ends up in the ocean. These newly designed seabins are helping us to visualize just how much plastic ends up in our local oceans.





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