An award-winning documentary film, “Ikkatsu: The Roadless Coast,” made by one of Campbell’s colleagues, chronicles the team’s first expedition kayaking the rugged west coast of the Olympic Peninsula last summer. Along the way they recorded the extent, locations, and type of marine debris that washed up after the 2011 Japanese tsunami.
But, Campbell notes, “at the end of the day, the issue was bigger than just the tsunami.”
Tsunami debris, he realized, was just part of a broader problem with other plastic and floating trash that threaten wildlife and untouched ecosystems everywhere. Instead of decomposing, this debris just breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces. Plastics are often ingested by animals, resulting in suffering or death.
Along the Olympic coast they discovered fishing floats, toy remnants, plastic bottles and a great deal of plastic foam. At one location Campbell found items including a child’s potty and a medicine cabinet, and realized he was standing amidst what was once a Japanese bathroom.
Overall, there was much more debris on the remote beaches than Campbell and his team expected. His report on the study somberly noted that “the problem is significant and the pace of newly-arriving debris is staggering. Much of the marine debris that we encountered has become heavily intertwined with natural materials.”
For its next expedition, the Ikkatsu Project team chose to kayak around Augustine Island in south-central Alaska, at the mouth of Cook Inlet, because it is seldom visited and its orientation to the open sea makes it an ideal spot to encounter marine debris. In late June, the team will spend a month surveying the island’s beaches and will also establish a field protocol to examine sea birds for plastic ingestion.
Additionally, the team secured a grant to make a documentary about the project and develop curriculum about marine plastic debris.
What can ordinary people can do to help alleviate the problem of plastic debris in our waters? When I pressed Campbell on this question, he was more interested in setting an example than preaching. “I just can’t use plastic bags anymore,” he told me. “They’re actively used for an hour or two, then they sit around for a few hundred years.”
Although plastics are serious and growing problem, Campbell is taking action instead of lamenting.
“Here are the facts. Do with them what you will, but at some point you have to realize that everything you do has an impact,” he said. “You can ask yourself whether it’s going to a positive one, or less so.”
