The massive amounts of plastic in the ocean are threatening to kill off Hawaii’s endangered seals and sea turtles on remote Pacific islands.The Great Pacific Plastic Patch is becoming an enormous threat to sea life, and the EPA is considering declaring the remote island of Tern Island an environment disaster area.

 

This crisis gives us an incredible opportunity -- if the EPA designates the island a Superfund site, it could mean taking the first real steps to schedule clean-up of oceanic plastic. Not only would this protect the thousands of species -- a fourth of which are found in no other place on Earth -- it would also put significant resources into tackling one of the greatest threats to our oceans and could become a model for tackling plastic polluting our oceans worldwide.

 

A high concentration of plastics from global sources has accumulated in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, threatening many endangered species. Designated Papahanaumokuakea National Monument in 2006, this 1,200-mile chain of scattered islands and atolls is home to more than 7,000 incredible marine species, and is one of the first ecosystems being serious threatened by the Pacific Plastic Patch.

Tern Island and its surrounding atoll, French Frigate Shoals, are designated as critical habitat for Hawaiian monk seals, whose total population of 1,200 has been steadily declining in the northwestern islands. It’s also nesting habitat for 95 percent of threatened Hawaiian green sea turtles. Unless the problem with plastic pollution is addressed, these fragile seal and sea turtle populations may be destroyed altogether.