Pacific Bird Refuge Struggles As Ocean Garbage Patch Grows

MIDWAY ATOLL, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands – Flying into the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, Midway Atoll appears out of the vast blue Pacific as a tiny oasis of coral-fringed land with pristine white sand beaches that are teeming with life. But on the ground, there’s a different scene: plastic, pollution and death. With virtually no predators, Midway is a haven for many species of seabirds and is home to the largest colony of albatross in the world. But Midway also is at the center of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a vast area of floating plastic collected by circulating oceanic currents.