Plane of plastic kills birds on Lord Howe Island

Scientists looking at the impact of plastic debris on a seabird colony nesting on Lord Howe Island say they found an increasing number of dead chicks during the latest fledging season - one with 200 small pieces of plastic in its digestive system.

They are looking into whether the young flesh-footed shearwaters are failing to make it off the World Heritage-listed island and begin their migration journey due to the vast amounts of plastic they're consuming.

Jennifer Lavers, from the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies in Tasmania, said that the proportion of birds at risk of ingesting plastic from our oceans is increasing.

Every year, Dr Lavers and a team of scientists at Adrift Lab travel to Lord Howe Island to study the effects of marine plastic pollution and the health of the flesh-footed shearwater.

We have been monitoring a number of Australian shearwater species over the past 15 years, in particular the flesh-footed shearwater, which is a fairly large species that breeds primarily on Lord Howe Island, according to Dr Lavers.

The team of scientists dissected the growing number of dead birds found on the island while some healthy chicks were tagged and released.

More than 200 small pieces of plastic were found inside the digestive system of a chick.

The researchers said they pointed out the wider consequences of plastic pollution.

Jack Auty, a lecturer at the University of Tasmania's School of Medicine and researcher at Adrift Lab, said the situation on Lord Howe Island is very serious.

These birds go up to the coast of Japan, so they're able to be exposed almost globally from plastics, Dr Auty said.

Dr Auty said a plastic toy that had not been produced since 1970 was found inside a bird's stomach last year.

If we are forced to use plastic in the most responsible way, we need to make sure we dispose of it in the most responsible way. Plastic is a good mimic that is mistaken for food, according to Dr Lavers.

She said fragments of plastic that had been floating in the ocean for decades could accumulate a biofilm'' similar to the bottom of a jetty or boat.

The pieces of rubbish probably don't look or smell like plastic to things like a sea turtle or a seabird. "They mistakenly consume it," Lavers said.

The Adrift Lab is using tracking devices attached to juvenile shearwaters this year to learn if the ingested plastic affects how the species flies, migrates and survives.

Conservation photographer Justin Gilligan, a Lord Howe Island-based conservation photographer, followed the group of researchers as they conducted their studies.

It was quite shocking, Mr Gilligan said.

He said that every morning we would get up and meet at a couple of beaches on the island just before sunrise and do a stroll along the beach and collect any dead or dying birds that we found in the intertidal zones.

Gilligan said he was surprised by the number of young birds they found dead.

It was a really sad sight. Gilligan, a wildlife photographer for more than 20 years, said he had seen an increase in marine debris.

It shows how big the issue is.