Plastic test to protect turtles
SCIENTISTS in North Queensland have developed a new technique to study microplastics ingested by sea turtles.
Researchers from James Cook University and The Australian Institute of Marine Science have successfully tested a way to inspect plastic that has been swallowed by turtles.
By using a sequence of chemical treatments, they are able to separate out ingested plastic particles from plant and animal food remains, as well as any sediment the turtle has swallowed during feeding.
JCU Professorial Research Fellow Dr Jon Brodie said the new technique would allow scientists to investigate whether microplastics were as dangerous to turtles as larger pieces of plastic.
“Before this we didn’t have a really good method of telling how much plastics were in the turtles,” Dr Brodie said.
Scientists recently used the method to examine the stomach of two green sea turtles that had washed up at Cleve- land Bay, south of Townsville.
They discovered seven microplastics, 4.5m of fishing line and some soft plastics.
“We had the opportunity to look at the gut content of some dead turtles that were washed up and what we wanted to look for were small pieces of plastic – microplastics,” Dr Brodie said. “Micro plastics are less than 5mm in size and so they are quite hard to see.”
AIMS@ JCU student Alexandra Caron led the study under the supervision of AIMS marine chemist Dr Cherie Motti.
Dr Brodie said it had already highlighted the need for increased efforts in plastic pollution mitigation.
“( Alexandra) developed a technique where we could digest the turtle gut using different chemical mixtures to digest away all the rest of the stuff, except the plastic,” he said.
Ingested microplastics can leak toxic chemicals and have the potential to impact organisms. Sea turtles are at particular risk from plastics in the ocean because the seven species of marine turtles are already categorised as vulnerable to critically endangered.
Dr Brodie urged people to be vigilant when using and disposing of plastics.