Plastic is seemingly everywhere. Water bottles, cutlery, containers, hangers, shopping bags, straws and more are made with this material. Sadly, it’s also in our oceans.
Upwards of 300 million tons of plastic are consumed every year, according to One Green Planet. But people aren’t disposing of plastic correctly, so it’s ending up in our waterways, trapped in tree branches and other places it shouldn’t be.
When plastic debris floats and flaps around in the ocean, animals believe it is a live food source and attempt to ingest the plastic. Approximately 80 percent of the marine litter comes from the land and most of it is plastic.
A study conducted by researchers with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) that was published in the journal Nature determined that young sea turtles are the most vulnerable to plastic pollution. Plastic was discovered in the stomachs of more than half of the baby post-hatchlings and in a quarter of the slightly older young sea turtles. Only 15 percent of the adult sea turtles studied were affected.
Sadly, sea turtles stand a 50 percent chance of dying after consuming just 14 pieces of plastic.
The No. 1 victim of marine plastic of course is the sea turtle. The plastic they ingest blocks their digestive system, a problem brought to light recently by Today. When a baby sea turtle washed up onto the Florida coastline, rescuers tried to save it but the 104 pieces of plastic it had swallowed did too much damage.
Heartbreakingly, the baby died.
Whitney Crowder, sea turtle rehabilitation coordinator for Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton, Fla., posted a viral photo of the dead turtle with examples of the bits of plastic that had been removed from its body.
“When they’re this size, they’re omnivores, all of them. They’re not as specialized as when they’re older. They eat little crustaceans that live in the floating seaweed, and they also eat algae in plant life, and these little pieces of plastic are just kind of floating, mixed in the seaweed, and by default, they’re eating the plastic. I think they’re just trying to eat to survive and not realizing that they’re eating something harmful.”
Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, which was founded in 1984, strives to help young turtles survive during “washback season.” As hatchlings, the turtles leave their nest on the shore and swim into the Gulf Stream and live on the “weed line.” Whether due to storms or sickness, the tiny turtles are sometimes blown back to the shore, or washed back, when they’re a few weeks to a few months old and too small and lightweight to fight the waves.
People at the center attempt to rescue the babies, but sometimes the babies are too far gone by the time they wash ashore. Surprisingly, dozens have died in this manner already this “washback season.” Crowder said it’s heartbreaking to see.
“I’ve been here since 2012 and every turtle that I’ve performed a necropsy on has had plastic of some sort. It’s devastating. You feel hopeless.”
The Facebook post shared how the last turtle to be found was so little it fit in the palm of her hand, yet it had managed to fill itself up with 104 pieces of deadly plastic.
“This is a sad reminder that we all need to do our part to keep our oceans plastic-free.”
In fact, at the International Coastal Cleanup Day Sept. 23, Gumbo Limbo Nature Center workers helped rather up 600 pounds of trash, particularly plastic, along Boca Raton’s beaches.
The sea turtle population is threatened not by predators, but by plastic. People all need to do their part to protect marine animals and the rest of the environment. The video below shows how important it is to help save the sea turtles and to cut back on plastic consumption while recycling properly.
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