Almost all loggerhead turtles washing up dead on Australian east coast's beaches have plastic in their stomachs, researchers say.
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The World Science Festival held in Brisbane this week features a baby loggerhead turtle hatchery to highlight conservation efforts focused on the species, which is listed as “vulnerable” by wildlife and environmental conservation organisation WWF.
Queensland Museum senior vertebrae curator Patrick Couper said the turtles, especially babies, were geared to feed on the surface, which made them high-risk for ingesting plastics.
“These little turtles, at their size they’re feeding on the surface, riding the ocean currents, and there’s a lot of small bits of plastic out there,” Mr Couper said.
“Any of these turtles washed up on shore dead on the Australian east coast, almost 100 per cent of them when autopsied have plastic in the guts.”
Mr Couper said the problem wasn’t restricted to Queensland, with plastic being found in sea turtles throughout the world.
And this week scientists in the Philippines dissected a whale with 40 kilograms of plastic in its stomach, which died of gastric shock.
“The quantity depends on currents and locality, but it’s not hard to pick up plastic on any beach you go to,” Mr Couper said.
To encourage people to do just that, a special competition has been run through The Hatchery: Turtle Conservation Experience at the museum, inviting schools to pick up plastic debris in nearby beaches.
Students from St Thomas Moore Primary on the Sunshine Coast won the inaugural competition, which also saw them create artwork made from the plastic they collected.
Minister for Environment, Science and the Arts Leeanne Enoch said she was pleased to see a large number of schools take part in the competition.
“The Hatchery is a signature event of World Science Festival Brisbane, helping to raise awareness
about Queensland-based turtle research, ocean pollution and the plight of marine turtles,” Ms
Enoch said.
Mr Couper said he hoped The Hatchery would give people a personal connection to the turtles, but warned they weren’t going to show up on demand.
“A lot of people come in expecting to see a little turtle pop out an egg, it doesn’t quite happen like that, it takes many hours for them to come out, but if we have enough turtles out, they can see the various stages,” Mr Couper said.
The Hatchery: Turtle Conservation Experience is available to the public at Queensland Museum until Sunday, March 24.
