On the Hunt for Aliens at Midway Atoll

 

By: Carey Morishige, Pacific Islands Regional Coordinator

Midway Atoll is a tiny paradise near the center of the North Pacific Ocean,  roughly mid-way between North America and Asia. This unorganized, unincorporated territory of the United States sits at the northwestern end of the Hawaiian archipelago and is a National Wildlife Refuge, as well as part of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. For me, Midway is simply one of the most amazing places I’ve had the privilege of visiting.

While there I assisted my colleague, Scott Godwin, resource protection specialist with the Monument, on cataloging alien species found both in the nearshore area and on marine debris, particularly potential Japan tsunami marine debris. We were on the hunt for marine invertebrate alien species, such as tunicates, crabs, and tubeworms.

An alien tunicate (Herdmania pallida) found nearshore.

Floating marine debris is an excellent raft for marine alien species, and it can easily transport species from one place to another, far from their home range. One impact of marine debris is the potential introduction of new alien species to an area. This can devastate sensitive or pristine marine ecosystems, such as those found within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

For Japan tsunami marine debris, items of particular interest are those that originated in the nearshore areas of Japan, such as a boat or floating pier. These items floated in nearshore waters long enough to have accumulated communities of marine organisms native to Japan. These organisms would be alien species, some potentially invasive, to our islands. Floating debris can also serve as a raft for pelagic (open ocean) species, such as the gooseneck barnacle. This species, and other common pelagic species, are not of great concern here in Hawaii because they are specifically adapted to the open ocean environment and would not survive in our nearshore areas (and thus not likely to become invasive).

While on the hunt, we found a couple of marine debris items that appeared to have alien species on them. We collected samples of each of the organisms, and Scott will work with his colleagues in the academic community on species identification. While this information will not tell us if the debris item was indeed lost with the March 2011 tsunami in Japan, it may reveal more information about its original location.

Polystyrene marine debris found with common gooseneck barnacles on the bottom as well as a couple of likely alien species: A) acorn barnacles and 2) calcareous tubeworm.

For more information on alien species on Japan tsunami marine debris, please visit http://anstaskforce.gov/Tsunami.html.

Do you know where your trash ends up?

By Caitlyn Zimmerman, Guest blogger

Can you picture a place untouched by man? I picture a place with pristine beaches and bright blue water lapping at the shore.  I believed Midway Atoll, a tiny island that is part of the Paphānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, to be one of those places.

I was fortunate enough to get the chance to go to Midway as part of a conservation biology course offered at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. I was working towards my master’s in coastal environmental management and knew I would never get this opportunity again.

Midway is truly inspiring—a special place that I feel honored to have experienced. But, there are aspects of Midway that chill me to the core. Like me, when most people think of Midway, they think of an island in the middle of the ocean untouched by man, but that is far from true.

Albatross nest on the sand inches away from marine debris (to the right).
Photo Credit: Danielle Crain

Marine debris litters the beach and stacks high on the island’s unused airplane hangar. New debris washes up daily, ranging in form from tennis ball sized fishing floats up to boats. Lighters and bottle caps litter the area around the albatross nests – a clear sign the birds mistakenly brought plastic back to feed their young. For a place so special and distant from civilization, Midway is struggling to keep up with all the debris.

The people working on the island told us stories of birds dying from all the plastic they ate, of chicks never reaching adulthood because parents didn’t realize the bright bits of plastic were not fish, of seals swimming hopelessly tangled in fishing line, of debris piling so high they can’t possibly clean it all up.

While on the island, my class and I helped to clean up some of Midway. We hauled away three truckloads of marine debris within only a mile and a half of beach. We found glass bottles, laundry baskets, more lighters than we could count, fishing nets – one so large it took five of us to pull out from under the sand – shoes, and countless other items that you never would have guessed would end up on a beach in the middle of the Pacific.

My experience at Midway showed me that even the most remote location can be affected by humans.  I think about Midway every day. It changed my life, and it taught me to never take lightly what I throw away because it might end up in some of the last pristine places on earth.

Editor’s note: Caitlyn Zimmerman holds a master’s in coastal environmental management from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment with a focus in science communication. She is currently an Outreach Specialist at NOAA’s Coastal Services Center. For more information, contact Caitlyn at Caitlyn.Zim@gmail.com.