Captain: Massive amount of debris off Hawaii, “You had to be there… just kept going & going… so odd it was in straight line” — Japan Expert: It’s accumulated off islands, warns of fish contamination — Rare dolphin washes up with heart problems & stomach lumps, last examined in 1980s
ENENews
The Japan News, Nov. 19, 2013: “Debris that drifted from Japan has accumulated in the eddy of the current off northeastern Hawaii,” [Prof. Shigeru Fujieda of Kagoshima University] said. “Plastic debris that flows out of the eddy will continue to be carried to places like Hawaii and Alaska.” Substances are often used in the manufacture of plastic goods that, if consumed by fish, could cause reproductive abnormalities or interfere with immune cell development. The substances could also become more concentrated as they are swallowed by different organisms along the food chain. “Human beings could consume chemical substances while eating fish,” Kojima said.
Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Nov. 23, 2013: A rarely seen dolphin that lives in deep waters off Hawaii washed ashore on Maui last weekend. The 9-foot-long, 800-pound male Risso’s dolphin was found dead on a rocky shoreline near Paia, Hawaii Pacific University biology professor Kristi West said Thursday. A necropsy indicated the dolphin had pneumonia and heart disease. His stomach had firm masses that may have been cancerous. [...] “They’re a huge source of information on these deep divers that we never see,” she said. [...] The last time one of the dolphins was stranded in Hawaii and scientists had an opportunity to examine it was in the late 1980s.