Baby sea turtles are consuming dangerous quantities of floating plastic - The Weather Network (2024)

Baby sea turtles are consuming dangerous quantities of floating plastic - The Weather Network (1)

By David Duffy, University of Florida and Catherine Eastman, University of Florida

Plastic pollution has been found in practically every environment on the planet, with especially severe effects on ocean life. Plastic waste harms marine life in many ways – most notably, when animals become entangled in it or consume it.

We work as scientists and rehabilitators at The Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience and Sea Turtle Hospital at the University of Florida. Our main focus is on sea turtle diseases that pose conservation threats, such as fibropapillomatosis tumor disease.

However, it’s becoming increasingly hard to ignore evidence that plastic pollution poses a growing, hidden threat to the health of endangered sea turtles, particularly our youngest patients. In a newly published study, we describe how we examined 42 post-hatchling loggerhead sea turtles that stranded on beaches in Northeast Florida. We found that almost all of them had ingested plastic in large quantities.

Baby sea turtles are consuming dangerous quantities of floating plastic - The Weather Network (3)

Deceased post-hatchling loggerhead sea turtle next to plastic pieces found in its stomach and intestines. Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, CC BY-ND

AN OCEAN OF PLASTIC

Ocean plastic pollution originates mostly from land-based sources, such as landfills and manufacturing plants. One recent study estimates that winds carry 200,000 tons of tiny plastic particles from degraded tires alone into the oceans every year.

Content continues below

Plastics are extremely durable, even in salt water. Materials that were made in the 1950s, when plastic mass production began, are still persisting and accumulating in the oceans. Eventually these objects disintegrate into smaller fragments, but they may not break down into their chemical components for centuries.

Overall, some 11 million tons of plastic enter the ocean each year. This amount is projected to grow to 29 million tons by 2040.

A MICROPLASTIC DIET

Many forms of plastic threaten marine life. Sea turtles commonly mistake floating bags and balloons for their jellyfish prey. Social media channels are replete with videos and images of sea turtles with plastic straws stuck in their nostrils, killed in plastic-induced mass mortality events, or dying after ingesting hundreds of plastic fragments.

So far, however, scientists don’t know a lot about the prevalence and health effects of plastic ingestion in vulnerable young sea turtles. In our study, we sought to measure how much plastic was ingested by post-hatchling washback sea turtles admitted to our rehabilitation hospital.

Post-hatchling washbacks are recently hatched baby turtles that successfully travel from their nesting beaches out to the open ocean and start to feed, but are then washed back to shore due to strong winds or ill health. This is a crucial life stage: Turtles need to feed to recover from their frenzied swim to feeding grounds hundreds of miles offshore. Feeding well also helps them grow large enough to avoid most predators.

Post-hatchling sea turtle being treated at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, CC BY-ND

Content continues below

We examined 42 dead washbacks, and found that 39 of them, or 93%, had ingested plastic – often in startling quantities. A majority of it was hard fragments, most commonly colored white.

One turtle that weighed 48 grams or 1.6 ounces – roughly equivalent to 16 pennies – had ingested 287 plastic pieces. Another hatchling that weighed just 27 grams, or less than one ounce, had ingested 119 separate pieces of plastic that totaled 1.23% of its body weight. The smallest turtle in our study, with a shell just 4.6 centimeters (1.8 inches) long, had ingested a piece of plastic one-fourth the length of its shell.

[You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors. You can get our highlights each weekend.]

Consuming such large quantities of plastic increases the likelihood that broken-down plastic nanoparticles or chemicals that leach from them will enter turtles’ bloodstreams, with unknown health effects. Ingested plastic can also block turtles’ stomachs or intestines. At a minimum, it limits the amount of space that’s physically available for consuming and digesting genuine prey that they need to survive and grow.

Turtles at this life stage live at the ocean’s surface, sheltering in floating mats of seaweed, where they feed on invertebrate prey such as zooplankton. These floating seaweed mats gather in the Atlantic, in an area known as the Sargasso Sea,which is bounded by four major ocean currents and covers much of the central Atlantic Ocean. The area is heavily polluted with plastic, as both seaweed and plastic travel on and are concentrated by the same ocean currents. Our study suggests that these baby turtles are mistakenly feeding on plastic floating in and around the seaweed.

The Sargasso Sea is an important feeding ground for immature Atlantic sea turtles, but the same currents that concentrate seaweed there also carry drifting plastic trash. University of Florida, CC BY-ND

Content continues below

Post-hatchling sea turtles are young and need to feed and grow rapidly. This means they are particularly at risk from the harmful consequences of ingesting plastic. We find it especially troubling that almost all of the animals we assessed had ingested plastic in such large quantities. Plastic pollution is only one of many human-related threats that these charismatic and endangered creatures face at sea.

STEMMING THE PLASTIC TSUNAMI

Since plastic persists for hundreds of years in the environment, clearing it from the oceans will require ingenious cleanup technologies, as well as lower-tech beach and shore cleanups. But in our view, the top priority should be curbing the rampant flow of plastic that is swamping oceans and coasts.

Earth’s ecosystems, especially the oceans, are interconnected, so reducing plastic waste will require global solutions. They include improving methods for recycling plastics; developing bio-based plastics; banning single-use plastic items in favor of more sustainable or reusable alternatives; and reducing shipment of plastic waste abroad to countries with lax regulatory regimes, from where it is more likely to enter the environment.

Our observations in post-hatchling turtles are part of a growing body of research showing how plastic pollution is harming wildlife. We believe it is time for humanity to face up to its addiction to plastic, before we find ourselves wading through swathes of plastic debris and wondering what went wrong.

Baby sea turtles are consuming dangerous quantities of floating plastic - The Weather Network (4)

David Duffy, Assistant Professor of Wildlife Disease Genomics, University of Florida and Catherine Eastman, Sea Turtle Hospital Program Coordinator, Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, University of Florida

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Baby sea turtles are consuming dangerous quantities of floating plastic - The Weather Network (2024)

FAQs

Is it true or false over 80% of sea turtles are found to have consumed plastic? ›

Research suggests that 52% of the world's turtles have eaten plastic waste. The reasons are simple: a floating plastic bag can look like a lot of jellyfish, algae, or other species that make up a large component of the sea turtles' diets. All sea turtle species are at risk from plastic.

What happens when sea turtles eat plastic? ›

“It's common to find loggerhead turtles with their digestive systems fully or partially blocked because they've eaten plastic materials. There also are increasing reports of sea turtles that have become ill and stranded on the beach due to their ingestion of plastic.”

What benefit could floating in seaweed have for the baby sea turtles? ›

Researchers tracking young loggerhead sea turtles with shell-mounted satellite transmitters have found the turtles making homes in seaweed mats that provide metabolism-boosting warmth, food and shelter.

How many sea turtles are killed by plastic? ›

Entanglement can lead to injuries, can hinder their ability to swim, to surface for air, or to feed, and, in severe cases, can lead to drowning and death. Scientists estimate that at least 1,000 sea turtles die each year due to entanglement in plastic—that's an average of more than 1 turtle every 9 hours!

Are straws actually bad for turtles? ›

Plastic straws can also harm sea turtles by getting caught in their nostrils or throat. This can cause the turtle to suffocate or prevent it from feeding properly. Plastic straws can also entangle sea turtles, making it difficult for them to swim and hunt for food.

What percentage of the sea's surface is polluted by plastic? ›

88% of the sea's surface is polluted by plastic waste. Between 8 to 14 million tonnes enters our ocean every year. Britain contributes an estimated 1.7 million tonnes of plastic annually. The US contributes 38 million tonnes of plastic every year.

What do baby sea turtles eat? ›

Baby Sea Turtle Facts

Sea turtle hatchlings eat a variety of prey including things like molluscs and crustaceans, hydrozoans, sargassum sea weed, jellyfish, and fish eggs. Unfortunately, hatchlings also mistake garbage and objects like tar balls as food and ingest them.

How many sea turtles are left in the world in 2024? ›

There are only about 6.5 million sea turtles left in the wild.

Why can't we help baby sea turtles? ›

It is important that the turtle hatchlings find the ocean on their own as this process lets them imprint on the beach. As tempting as it may be to help a struggling hatchling, you have allow them to move on their own. Touching sea turtles is also illegal federally and in the state of Florida.

How long do baby turtles live? ›

Lifespan of Turtles. The average lifespan of a turtle or tortoise is highly dependent on the species. Some species may only live 10 to 20 years in captivity, while others can live up to 150 years. In general, most turtle and tortoise species can live well into their 50s if provided appropriate care.

Do baby turtles find their parents? ›

Myth #2: The turtle is looking for its mother

The young turtles are completely independent from the moment they hatch. What the turtle is looking for is safety. Feel free to help them on their journey, but do not hinder them!

What kills the most sea turtles? ›

Commercial Fishing: Longline & Trawl

Global estimates of annual capture, injury and mortality are staggering – 150,000 turtles of all species killed in shrimp trawls, more than 200,000 loggerheads and 50,000 leatherbacks captured, injured or killed by longlines, and large numbers of all species drowned in gill nets.

Why is plastic bad for turtles? ›

Sea turtles and other marine creatures mistake plastics and other garbage as food (such as jellyfish) and ingest it. This mistake causes blockages within their digestive system and eventual death. According to the US EPA, Americans use more than 380 billion plastic bags and wraps each year.

How many sea turtles are dead? ›

More than 1.1 million sea turtles have been illegally killed in the past 30 years, according to new data. Despite laws to protect them, scientists at Arizona State University estimate that about 44,000 turtles across 65 countries were illegally killed and exploited every year over the past decade.

What is killing sea turtles? ›

Pollution. Solid waste, chemicals and pollutants from human activities enter the ocean, causing injury, illness and even death to sea turtles. The pollution sources range from wastewater discharge released by cruise liners to fishing nets that are lost by fishermen to fertilizer runoff that comes down rivers from farms ...

How many marine animals died from plastic? ›

How many marine animals die each year from pollution and plastic? 100 million marine animals die each year from plastic waste alone.

How do turtles get trapped in plastic? ›

They can get stuck in it while swimming.

Many turtles make long migrations and pass through areas with a lot of ocean plastic. They can get caught in things like six pack rings or discarded fishing gear.

How much plastic is in the ocean? ›

12 million tonnes of plastic finds its way into the ocean every single year. 9.5 million tonnes of this enters the ocean from the land with 1.75 tonnes being chucked into the sea directly from the fishing a shipping industry. There are approximately 51 trillion microscopic pieces of plastic, weighing 269,000 tons.

References

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Duncan Muller

Last Updated:

Views: 6583

Rating: 4.9 / 5 (79 voted)

Reviews: 86% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Duncan Muller

Birthday: 1997-01-13

Address: Apt. 505 914 Phillip Crossroad, O'Konborough, NV 62411

Phone: +8555305800947

Job: Construction Agent

Hobby: Shopping, Table tennis, Snowboarding, Rafting, Motor sports, Homebrewing, Taxidermy

Introduction: My name is Duncan Muller, I am a enchanting, good, gentle, modern, tasty, nice, elegant person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.