Plastics: please use responsibly!!

WARNING: 

This post contains some disturbing images or links. 

But if you're uncomfortable looking at it, just imagine how the sea turtle felt!!

One of the main controversies about the use of plastics is what happens to disposable products once we finish using them. Plastics take thousands of years to decompose, so trash that ends up in the ocean stays in the ocean.

Decaying Plastic Bag: YUCK!
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plastic_bag_jellyfish.JPG

Moon Jellyfish: YUM!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Moon_jellyfish_at_Gota_Sagher.JPG

Most people know about the problem of plastic bags. The primary food source for leatherback sea turtles, jellyfish, look deceptively like a floating bag.

A leatherback has barbs along its throat much like a fishhook, so anything that goes down pretty much can't come back up. And plastic bags, being non-digestible, end up staying inside the turtle.

museumvictoria.com.au/about/mv-blog/categories/melbourne-museum/

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FUN* FACTS!! 

(*and by fun, I mean really disturbing fact that should make you think twice about how you use and dispose of plastics)

Did you know? 90% of turtles found dead on the beach have plastics within their system. So pretty much every sea turtle in the world encounters plastics.

Did you know? Studies have shown that by 2050, the amount of plastic in the ocean will be greater than the biomass. Meaning there will be more plastic than fishes.
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Not only do bags cause a problem, but so do things like the plastic straws, forks/spoons, fishing lines, and 6-pack holders that end up in the ocean. This poses a huge problem for animals like the olive ridley sea turtle, who is an omnivore - it'll eat almost anything.

photo credit: Nathan Robinson

Last summer, Nathan, Collin, Brett and Sean were working the beach when a tourist came running up to them for help. They could just make out from her panicked Spanish that there was a turtle who needed help. They ran after her, and found an olive ridley with 3 inches of plastic sticking out of her nose. When they pulled it out, they discovered it was a plastic fork, the tines too large to come out of her nostril.

In humans, the nasal passageway is located at the back of our throats but in turtles, it is on the roof of their mouth. Nathan speculates that the turtle swallowed the fork and, upon realizing it wasn't food, tried to regurgitate it, then had the handle accidentally enter the nasal passageway.

It's sad and disturbing to see it, but you can watch the entire ordeal HERE. In it, you'll see Brett and Collin holding down the turtle while Nathan pulls the fork from her nostril.

Photo credit: Nathan Robinson

Just a few months before, the team encountered a turtle with what they thought was a tube worm in his nose. After struggling a bit to get it out, they discovered it was a plastic straw.

Again, similarly difficult to watch, but the encounter can be seen HERE.

Nathan, holding the straw he pulled
out of the turtle's nose. He said he felt
awkward smiling while holding the
offending object, but then we said to
think about how happy the turtle was
when he finally got it out!

What kills me is the obvious agony these turtles are in as Nathan works to remove the foreign objects.











It's impossible not to cringe and feel just a little bit ashamed at what we, as humans, are doing to the rest of the world. You have a responsibility in the choices you make, so think twice the next time you forget to bring your reusable shopping bag, or toss out your water bottle! Conservation isn't someone else's job - it is yours and mine.