Cobey Doi’s fourth-grade students at Hawaii Preparatory Academy recently studied boluses from Midway Island’s Laysan albatrosses as part of their unit on the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument and World Heritage Site, one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world.
Cobey Doi’s fourth-grade students at Hawaii Preparatory Academy recently studied boluses from Midway Island’s Laysan albatrosses as part of their unit on the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument and World Heritage Site, one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world.
Nakoa Goo of the Mokupapapa Discovery Center in Hilo led the class activity.
Five groups of students separated natural and unnatural items from the boluses and found a heavy concentration of plastic, fishing line, rope and even erasers. Natural items included squid beaks, plant parts, rocks and feathers.
Students weighed plates of separated items. Each group found that the plates of unnatural items outweighed the plates of natural items.
This hands-on research project helped students understand how much marine debris can be found in the ocean and its impact on the Laysan albatross, Phoebastria immutabilis.