Plastic in oceans a major threat to turtles

THE survival battle of turtles was a reflection of the pollution in the oceans, according to the Two Oceans Aquarium which has said every turtle rescued by them had eaten plastic.

The aquarium shared a story of a turtle tangled in discarded fishing line that was found in June.

The turtle was alive but extremely weak and was transported to the sea turtle rehabilitation centre at the aquarium. He then died.

This turtle, about 3 years old, was named Marcel. Green sea turtles are endangered and the ghost fishing net in which Marcel was entangled in is considered one of the main dangers that turtles experience in the ocean once they have outgrown their hatchling phase.

Two Oceans Aquarium Education Foundation Conservation Co-ordinator, Talitha Noble, said: “Marcel’s story makes me super sad, because despite him being an incredibly strong turtle and despite us doing our best to try to help him, we as humans gave him too many battles to face. Turtles just can’t do it. They are strong but they can’t win against the burdens we put on them by polluting the ocean.”

The autopsy revealed another horror – Marcel’s stomach contained 67 pieces of plastic including bits of hard microplastic, pieces of rope, clothing fibres and plastic shopping bag fragments. “Although ingested plastic was not the cause of death in the case of Marcel, the sheer quantity of plastic we found was alarming.

“These must have been fragments of plastic that he had consumed along the South African coastline before becoming entangled in the ghost fishing net,” Noble said.

A post-mortem examination was conducted on Marcel to determine the cause of death and it was found that his gut was already necrotic.

The infection had already spread from his flipper and the damage was too extensive for this turtle to ever recover, she said.

Marcel represented both of the greatest risks that sea turtles face in the oceans. These are ghost fishing nets and plastic pollution. His death was preventable, Noble said.

Efforts between the Two Oceans Aquarium and its education foundation have resulted in the successful rehabilitation and release of more than 600 endangered sea turtles in a decade.

One lesson learned is that almost every turtle rescued had eaten plastic. The aquarium hopes to encourage more people to be responsible when it comes to their use of single-use plastic items.

Reusable items should also be chosen instead of disposable options.