Marine Pollution and Seabird Welfare

Plastic pollution, oil spills, and chemical contamination cause significant welfare harm to seabirds through ingestion, entanglement, feather fouling, and reproductive effects.

Key Facts

An estimated 90% of seabirds have ingested plastic, with some species averaging 7% of body weight as plastic
Oiled seabirds experience hypothermia, starvation, and organ damage from feather fouling
Plastic ingestion causes malnutrition, gut blockage, and toxin transfer in seabird chick feeding
Persistent organic pollutants accumulate in seabird eggs, affecting reproductive success and chick development
Marine pollution clean-up efforts have improved but global plastic production continues to increase

Welfare Considerations

Marine pollution welfare harms to seabirds are cumulative and chronic rather than acute. Plastic ingestion causes prolonged malnutrition as gut space is occupied by non-nutritive material. Chicks fed plastic by parents feeding them at sea grow more slowly and may die before fledging. Oil contamination causes acute severe suffering — birds lose thermoregulation, ingest toxic oil while preening, and die from hypothermia or organ damage. These welfare harms are diffuse and largely invisible, occurring at sea without human observation. Reducing plastic pollution is the most impactful intervention for seabird welfare at the population level.

What You Can Do

Reduce single-use plastic consumption to decrease marine plastic pollution
Participate in beach and coastal clean-up events
Support organizations rehabilitating oiled and plastic-injured seabirds
Advocate for strong plastic pollution regulation and extended producer responsibility