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Articles

Vol. 7 No. 3 (1976)

NOTES: EVIDENCE FROM SEABIRDS OF PLASTIC PARTICLE POLLUTION OFF CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

Submitted
August 21, 2025
Published
July 1, 1976

Abstract

Pollution by plastic particles is well documented in the Atlantic Ocean and has recently been reported from the Pacific Ocean (Colton et al. 1974; footnotes 11 and 12). Small polyethylene cylinders are used in the fabrication of plastic products and have been found in the effluent of plastic manufacturing plants (Colton et al. ibid.). Ingestion of plastic particles has been reported for eight species of fishes and one chaetognath by Carpenter et al. (1972); for Atlantic species of petrels, terns and gulls by Rothstein (1973) and by Hays and Cormons (1974); and for unidentified seabirds by Colton et al. (op. cit.). Bond (1971) found whitish or orange synthetic spheres in 20 Red Phalaropes (Phalaropus fulicarius) found dead on beaches of the San Diego area.

References