TFLHI are involved in promoting conservation broadly on the island, and when the problem of ocean plastic impacting the island's seabirds came to light in 2001 the Friends became involved in beach clean-ups, and community workshops to sort and report the various plastic types into a national web plastic database, to raise awareness. The group became involved in surveying and monitoring the number of plastics that seabirds deposit in the colonies on the island, guided by a PhD student. Seabirds accidently ingest plastic when they forage, which is then sometimes vomited out in their burrows on the island. Each year when the birds come back, they dig out any excess sand which flicks out plastic, which is then counted and cataloged by TFLHI.