Your first view of Kamilo Beach on Hawaii 's Big Island is of majestic rock , postcard-worthy waves and miles of uninhabited beach . But look closer at the sand and you see specks of blue , yellow and white plastic . A piece of a bottle cap . A corner of a milk crate . Half a toothbrush . Kamilo Beach is part of the devastating legacy of the March 2011 Japan tsunami . `` It 's disheartening to come out here and see all this marine debris in an area that 's otherwise so remote , debris that 's washing up from other countries , '' said Megan Lamson , debris project coordinator for the Hawaii Wildlife Fund . Hawaii is in a unique geographical spot , the center of the Pacific Ocean , to witness the impact of the Japan tsunami . Debris swirls from Asia to the continental United States through Hawaii . The islands are , in effect , a comb of the Pacific . The nonprofit Hawaii Wildlife Fund said marine debris has been a problem for years for the island state and tsunami debris has made things worse . According to Japan , 1.5 million tons of tsunami debris floated away . The wildlife fund organizes beach cleanups along Hawaii 's shorelines and struggles to keep up with the marine debris , made up primarily of plastic . Lamson pulled out part of a beer crate that read `` Exclusively for Kirin Beer '' in Japanese . She also found a Suntory Whisky bottle stamped `` Japan . '' Lamson also found a small vitamin drink container with Japanese text . Since fall , the wildlife fund and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have found refrigerators , freezers , buoys and even an intact fishing boat , all with Japanese text . But most disturbing to Lamson are a couple of soft plastic bottles with bite marks . `` Marine life in the ocean are mistaking plastic for their natural food , '' Lamson said . Lamson may suspect it , but Lesley Jantz , a NOAA fishery biologist with the observer program , can confirm it . Jantz has been studying the impact of marine debris in fish . In her lab , Jantz sliced open the stomach of a lancetfish for CNN . You may never have heard of the lancetfish , a sometimes 4- to 6-foot long fish with enormous teeth . But bigeye and yellow fin tuna eat lancetfish . Tuna ends up on our plates . Jantz pulled out a 12 by 12 piece of indigestible black plastic . `` It would be difficult to pass through the system , '' said Jantz . `` I 've found several fish with the same black plastic bag , just like this , even larger . If it gets to a certain size , the fish is going to feel like it 's full . '' Jantz conducted a study that included 64 fish of varying species . Twelve percent of them , she said , contained plastic . When she looked just at lancetfish , 45 % had plastic . `` One concern that we have and do n't know is if any chemicals from the plastic are absorbed into the tissue of the fish , which is a problem if consumed by a fish that we consume . That 's definitely the next step , what is the impact ? '' Across the island in David Hyrenbach 's lab , the impact of plastic debris is apparent among the animal species he studies : birds . Hyrenbach cut open the bellies of some albatross for CNN . Plastic pieces spilled out of the belly of a 2-month-old albatross . Eighty percent of the stomach was packed with plastic . Hyrenbach , an assistant professor of oceanography at Hawaii Pacific University , pulled out a small bottle top . `` Toothpaste top ? '' he said . `` No , cap of a medicine tube . '' He reached into the stomach again . `` Oh , it 's a brush , you see ? '' There were the unmistakable bristles of a hairbrush . `` Morally , this is terrible . How is this possible ? Majestic , far ranging , beautiful birds , in a pristine place of the pacific , the northwest Hawaiian islands , you open them up and this is what you find , '' said Hyrenbach . He grabbed a box , packed with toy soldiers , lighters and brushes . He explained that he pulled all the items out of albatross from Hawaii . `` Every bird I looked at had plastic . Some had a little bit . Some had a lot . Everybody we looked at had plastic . '' NOAA said most of the debris affecting the island can not be tracked to any particular country , even Japan , because the plastic is often so weathered and broken by the time it hits Hawaii . `` We do n't really know the full impact of this type of debris . It adds to an existing problem that we have across the world , '' said NOAA Pacific Islands Regional Coordinator Carey Morishige . `` But it is quite eerie to see an item you think may have come from Japan , someone 's home , to sit on a beach thousands of miles away . It brings home the fact beyond the marine debris issue this is first and foremost a human tragedy . '' It should serve as a reminder , Morishige said , that `` the land and the oceans are incredibly connected . ''
Debris apparently from 2011 Japan tsunami is washed ashore in Hawaii . Hawaii Conservation Fund supports beach cleanups . NOAA has been studying the effects of debris on beaches .