title: Plastic ingestion by fulmars and shearwaters at Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.
abstract: Plastic pollution is widespread in the marine environment, and plastic ingestion by seabirds is now widely reported for dozens of species. Beached Northern Fulmars, Great Shearwaters, Sooty Shearwaters and Cory's Shearwaters are found on Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada regularly, and they can be used to assess plastic pollution. All species except Cory's Shearwaters contained plastic debris in their gastrointestinal tracts. Northern Fulmars, Sooty Shearwaters and Great Shearwaters all showed high prevalence of plastic ingestion (>72%), with Northern Fulmars having the highest number and mass of plastics among the species examined. There was no difference in plastic ingestion between sexes or age classes. In all species user plastics made up the majority of the pieces found, with industrial pellets representing only a small proportion in the samples. Sable Island could be an important monitoring site for plastic pollution in Atlantic Canada.
authors.affiliation: Environment Canada, 11 Innovation Boulevard, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 3H5, Canada. Electronic address: alex.bond@rspb.org.uk.
authors.forename: Alexander L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Bond
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Carleton University, National Wildlife Research Centre, Raven Road, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H3, Canada.
authors.forename: Jennifer F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Provencher
authors.affiliation: Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, Department of Pathology and Microbiology, Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, 550 University Avenue, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island C1A 4P3, Canada.
authors.forename: Pierre-Yves
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Daoust
authors.affiliation: Friends of the Green Horse Society, P.O. Box 64, Halifax CRO, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 2L4, Canada.
authors.forename: Zoe N
authors.initials: ZN
authors.lastname: Lucas
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001715:Bird Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D046091:Charadriiformes; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005766:Gastrointestinal Contents / Q000737:chemistry; D008297:Male; D009674:Nova Scotia; D010969:Plastics; D014866:Waste Products / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D010969:Plastics; D014866:Waste Products
keywords: Cory’s Shearwater; Fulmarus glacialis; Great Shearwater; Northern Fulmar; Puffinus; Sooty Shearwater