Although most of the devastation caused by the Sendai tsunami in Japan occurred on Japan's northern Pacific coast, the impact of the earthquake sent waves deep into the ocean. 2560 miles away, on Midway Atoll, four-meter-high waves fell over an important area for several endangered albatross species such as the short-tailed albatross.
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, tens of thousands of birds, both adults and chicks were washed into the sea and have yet to return to their nests.
The birds were the most severely affected, with tens of thousands of young Laysan albatrosses lost and thousands of Bonin petrels buried alive. Several thousand adults of various species were lost and have not returned yet.
Only a couple of nests of short-tailed albatrosses nest in Midway. The species, which is believed to have a population of only 2,200 individuals, has suffered from decades of feather hunting and a series of natural disasters that have degraded its few of its nesting sites. The Forest Service reports that although the parents and chicks were affected by the wave, the chick was found 35 meters away and returned to its nest. However, without at least one parent, the chick cannot survive.
Laysan ducks and monk seals were also affected, but the extent of the impact is not yet known.
Authors: Val
