Environment

Photos: Tugidak Island garbage

Tugidak Island, 10 miles south of Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska, has historically been home to one of the world's largest haulouts of harbor seals. But the seals have faced severe population declines in recent decades.

Despite the human race's rare appearances on the island, its footprints have been quite large. Over two years, volunteers collected 83,000 pounds of trash, which mostly consisted of marine debris lost or tossed at sea.

"There were strange inflatable rubber toys, laced tote lids, barrels, plastic and metal gas tanks, propane tanks, tires and basically anything that could float," said Tom Pogson, director of education, outreach and marine programs at the Island Trails Network, a Kodiak-based nonprofit.

Detergent bottles, barrels of waste oil, acid jugs used to clean boats, glass balls, Barbie doll torsos, doll heads, a box nailed shut with a dead bird and a letter written in a foreign language inside, Bic lighters, Japanese oyster floats that he said could be remnants of the 2011 Japanese tsunami -- Pogson's list just kept going.

Read more: Tugidak Island: Home to thousands of harbor seals and 43 tons of trash

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