Dustbin in the Pacific. By T.C.Evamay ©2009. 

Just what is a Dustbin?  The dictionary definition describes it as ‘a receptacle, usually cylindrical, to hold and retain trash.’  Perhaps you consider it to be the green wheelie bin your household has to place on the pavement each week or fortnight for collection.  Or perhaps the old fashioned ‘can’ style drum with the tin lid and requisite dents.  While we might assess both of these to be correct, it is unlikely that most of us would consider the mighty Pacific Ocean as a dustbin.  Sadly however, it is exactly that. 

 
A few years ago I moved to Hawaii; the fruits of my labour in California’s Silicon Valley working all hours under the sun – and the moon too sometimes.  I was romanced by the palm trees, tropical beaches, warm blue waters, cool breezes and of course, the occasional Mai-Tai!  A decision never to be regretted on my part and today I spend my time equally between my homes in England and Hawaii.  “Can life get any better?”  I ask.  It appears the answer is “No,” in fact it appears to be getting worse. 

Natural flowing currents in the Pacific form a phenomenon known as the ‘North Pacific Sub-tropical Gyre.’  These currents continuously circle the North Pacific between Japan and the USA gradually diminishing in radii until they converge upon the islands of Hawaii and Midway, a small atoll on the North Western tip of the Hawaiian archipelago, approximately one third of the distance between Honolulu and Tokyo

The whole Hawaiian  island chain is affected by the gyre, but Kure and Midway are wildlife sanctuaries and administered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service
 

Midway is a National Wildlife Refuge administered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), but is probably best known for the World War II battle of the same name in which the US Navy famously repelled Japanese efforts to invade the islands.  Sadly, today an arguably larger battle is taking place; one in which consumers from both Japan and America are the aggressors and their weapon is trash.  The modern day defenders are the local populace and volunteers from around the world - mainly from Hawaii.

Yes, trash; plastic bags with the logos of well know superstores from Asia and North America; discarded fishing lines and plastic storage tubs; fast food wrappings and milk containers; tampons and condoms; fishing floats and nets, and so on and so on.  In all, some 100 millions tons of trash and debris circulate in the currents of the North Pacific of which it is estimated that 80% comes from land-based sources and 20% from ships at sea.  It is further estimated that currents carry debris from the east coast of Asia to the centre of the vortex in about a year, and debris from the west coast of North America takes about five years.
 

The impact of this floating trash upon Wildlife is nothing short of tragic.  The Midway Islands are home to many of the world’s endangered species and all are at risk from choking, starving, or drowning as a result of the debris drifting towards, and collecting at, the tiny coral atoll in the North Pacific Ocean.

The effects upon Sea Turtles and Albatross is arguably greatest - turtles with their paddles trapped in plastic bags swim in circles, the bag acting as a sea anchor.  Some manage to struggle exhausted onto the atoll only to have the bag snag under an oil drum or such like; young turtles with plastic cable ties encircling their small bodies grow to adulthood with an hourglass shape as the cable tie strangles their shell during growth.


copyright T.Harvey www.seaturtlefoundation.org

As an air breathing sea goer, this sea turtle got caught in a cable tie.  As the creature grew, the cable tie didn’t.

Approximately one third of the chicks of the almost two million albatross living here die each year as a result of being mistakenly fed plastic bottle tops, tampons, and cigarette lighters by their parents.  Undernourished, they lack the strength to fly and fend for themselves and so starve to death; a death caused by our life style and without ever being given their chance of life.  When we see a discarded cigarette lighter floating just below the surface of the ocean, we see trash.  When an Albatross sees the same item, it sees squid, the mariner’s friend’s favourite food (see below).

Found on the atoll of Midway, the remains of this Albatross chick have been picked clean by scavengers.  They left the undigested plastic bottle top and cigarette lighter.  I wonder why?

Even the mighty Humpback whale is not immune to 21st century lifestyles.  In the 19th and early 20th centuries the weapon of consumerism was the harpoon, today it is the plastics our lifestyle commits to the ocean; plastic nets that cut into their flesh and make it almost impossible for them to feed.

In short, upwards of a million seabirds, tens of thousands of marine mammals and an impossibly high number of fish die agonisingly each year because they either mistakenly eat the waste of our convenience culture, or are ensnared in it and eventually drown.  Plastic items not washed up onto the beach are eventually broken down into particulates, which resemble zooplankton and are subsequently mistakenly consumed by jellyfish.

The situation has not escaped the federal authorities either.  The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has established a Marine Debris Program.  The program currently has two full-time officers in Hawaii, who have been working to bring diverse groups together across the islands, to tackle the problem locally.  Members of staff at Midway’s refuge, together with the welcome and able assistance of volunteers from all over the archipelago, mount regular clean-up operations.



A new swathe of trash and dead wildlife with each tide

The task is huge and thankless and each new tide brings a swathe of new debris; each new tide brings new death as wildlife bodies, entwined in the debris, are washed up too.  The battle is constant and seemingly never ending. 

This however, is a local clean up solution only.  It does not stop the death and destruction and as able and willing as the volunteers are, it has to be recognized that both the problem and solution are global issues and the US Government has to intervene to persuade other Governments to take action – on behalf of the planet.  Without that intervention, a whole ecosystem will eventually be destroyed and there is probably very little time left

In 1942 the battle of Midway was considered one of the most decisive battles of World War II and changed the course of the war in Pacific.  In 2009 a new battle of Midway is being waged.  This new battle has been going on for years, not days, but like its predecessor, much is at stake… arguably even more.  The new battle of Midway must be won, only this one will change the course of mankind.

The next time you are in a supermarket checkout line and are asked ‘Paper or Plastic?’  Think of the Dustbin in the Pacific before you answer. 
 

Photograph  sources: Public Domain
 

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I think it is always great to hear the thoughts of other collectors of David's drawings. And I am very happy to be able publish this article from Jon who has been a collector of David's work for several years. Jon has many of David's prints and original drawings. He admits to preferring the quirkier animals rather than the more well known big cats and primates. I expect , whilst you undoubtedly appreciate all wildlife, all of you have your own favorites. My favorites are the primates (they all remind me of people I know-although, I'd better not mention who!).

Anyway, this article will interest many of us. Most of us will have had some similar experiences but probably many will also have a little envy for Jons collections and experiences. Thanks Jon for sharing your story with us.

Vince De Luca.

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    My love affair with wildlife art started half a century ago. My parents had come in from shopping, clutching a large framed print from Boots to fill a space on the lounge wall. The picture turned out to be of a huge, solitary bull elephant, standing in sunlight against a rain laden Kenyan sky. I was amazed at the texture of the elephant’s skin, the position and shape of its ears and the way light and shadow played over its body. This picture, Wise Old Elephant by David Shepherd, became the best selling print of its era and the only picture my parents ever bought. Little did I know then that my interest in wildlife art had been born and would continue for the rest of my life.
 

Wise Old Elephant by David Shepherd.

    By the time I was in my twenties, I was a young primary school teacher with little money. However, a chance visit to an art gallery in Yorkshire led to my first art purchase, a small water colour of a badger. Other subjects by the same artist followed over the years: fox, otter, red squirrel and stoat. Each was well painted and relatively cheap, and, having initially spread them through my home, gradually they became grouped in one bedroom. My first collection was formed.

    Into my thirties, promotion and a little more money. One day my wife and myself heard about  Nature in Art at Twigworth and its collection of wildlife art. We fitted a visit into a return trip from Scotland and were wowed by the variety and quality of work from around the world. The artist in residence was Gary Hodges. An expert in pencil, Gary spends hundreds of hours working on his pictures of exotic mammals ranging from zebra to snow leopards. Gary was charming to talk to, but the originals were too expensive for us. However, we were introduced to limited edition prints and came home with two, one each, a serval and an owl butterfly. The second collection was in progress. 
    
    Over the following years many exhibitions were visited, we queued, we talked to lots of friendly people who were passionate about wildlife and its art, and when we could, we bought more prints. The hall, downstairs toilet, stairs and landing were filled. Hippo, rhino, oryx, and many other African mammals were purchased and proudly exhibited. I wanted to know more about these species and so we began to go on safari. Trips to Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Zambia and Namibia have followed. Each, has brought fantastic memories of wonderful creatures, scenery and people, each relived whenever I look at our art collection.

    Into my forties and a new young artist was discovered. Keen to know about our trips and the wildlife seen and photographed, we became good friends. She hadn’t been to Africa and so I started to give her copies of my photos to use as reference. Her skill is immense, particularly in the life she can produce in the eyes of the big cats. More originals were purchased, some  being interpretations  of actual animals we have seen. Consequently, the lounge filled with a charging juvenile elephant that we had photographed in Samburu. A cheetah, who had sat on our jeep in the Mara, (And whom many of you will know as Kike of Big Cat Diary), adorns the mantelpiece, and the leopard ,  who unbelievably rested by our jeep in the Kruger, allowing us to take superb close- ups, had to overspill into the downstairs study. We went to more exhibitions, bought more originals of big cats, sometimes helped on the coffee or wine table, and continued to meet lovely people from all walks of life, but with a common interest of seeing and buying the best of wildlife art.

    My fifties approached and, after a trip to Tanzania, in which an agama lizard ended up staring at me from my bedside table at five in the morning, another collection was born. Upon returning home, there in a gallery window was a print of my agama. Brilliantly drawn, I went inside to be introduced to David Dancey Wood.


Basking Agama by David Dancey-Wood.

    As with all artists I have been fortunate enough to meet, he was friendly, good humoured and passionate about his art and conservation in general. I started collecting some of his prints, again of exotic creatures which I had been fortunate enough to see in Africa. Then, I came across an original of a rock hyrax. We had seen these creatures on numerous occasions, including by the pool, beneath our sunbeds, in the Mara. My wife and myself went halves on it and our days of buying his originals had begun. Sandcat, cheetah, vervet monkey looking just like the one that trashed our tent in Samburu, and bat-eared fox followed. Each beautifully crafted with every hair in place and with the surrounding habitat minutely reproduced. 

    The remaining room has filled with these fantastic examples of an artist at the top of their profession. But now all the walls are filled and I know that there are going to be more pictures that I will be tempted by. So, do I start to sell the prints to create space, do I rotate them or do I need an extension? I know other collectors face the same situation but has anybody got a satisfactory solution?  Perhaps I can overspill onto the blank walls of my mother’s retirement flat. Apart of course, from the space filled by a solitary bull elephant, that started my passion all those years ago.

Jon.

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Jon, you are inspirational. I wish I had the same dilema about too many pictures (build that extension-I think you're going to need it!). 

I hope you enjoyed this article? Please leave a comment if you wish.

David's Prints are availlable to purchase on our website - www.wildlife-sketches.com. or click the banner below.

Thanks again Jon.

Vince De Luca.