Shearwater Plastic Project – April 2015

For this years’ research Anicee Lombee, Phoebe Lewis, Vaughn Wellington and Andrew Fiddler came over to assist Jennifer Lavers and me carry out monitoring the chicks of two shearwaters for incidence of plastic.

66 Flesh footed shearwaters and 40 Wedgetalied shearwaters were processed using the technique of lavaging – flushing the stomach with water to induce vomiting and monitor any plastic present.

Results go into the long term monitoring of these seabirds that commenced in 2005.

Anicee and Phoebe are also undertaking studies into various aspects of the Flesh footed shearwaters and collected materials for their research.