Highly Endangered Sea Turtles Plagued By ‘Syndrome’ Of Death In Plastic-Infested Oceans [Report]
Scores of highly endangered sea turtles are succumbing to a deadly “floating syndrome” as a result of ingesting plastic, according to a recent report. The condition has been known to confine the animals to the ocean surface, ultimately preventing them from submerging or diving into the ocean for feeding as well as safety reasons.
Sea turtles, like other marine animals, regularly ingest plastic material, often mistaking them for a potential food source. The ingested plastic leads to the accumulation of gas in their digestive tracts and triggers unusual buoyancy, causing them to float. Experts feel this accumulation of gas can also result from ingesting objects other than plastic, namely hooks, fishing lines, and other waste or pollution-triggering bacterial infections.
According to Dr. Qamar Schuyler from the University of Queensland, this increasing lethal swallowing of plastic is bound to inevitably influence the food chain.
“Unfortunately, what this means is that if the bottom of the food chain is eating plastic, it bio-accumulates up the food chain, and there have been several studies that have looked at food fish, fish that we go out and purchase and even these fish have plastics in their intestines.”
A few years ago, Scientists from the University of New South Wales disclosed that nearly half of the entire sea turtle population is ingesting plastic. According to oceanographer Erik van Sebille, these numbers are on the ascent as plastic pollution levels continue to climb.
“These patches are not going away. The garbage patches will stay there for at least the next thousand years.”
Another study conducted by the University of Queensland revealed that green turtle species are significantly more likely to ingest plastic waste, whereas Loggerhead turtles are known to sometimes mistake plastic bags for jellyfish. These potentially lethal plastic killers, in addition to releasing deadly toxins, go on to block the stomach, starve the animals, and sometimes ravage their intestines. Furthermore, the turtles have been known to swallow balloons, plastic bags, ropes, and styrofoam, among other forms of debris.
According to University of Queensland marine biologist Dr. Kathy Townsend, ingestion of plastic triggers the floating syndrome in the long run, thereby condemning these extraordinary marine turtles to a slow and harrowing death.
“The animal becomes positively buoyant and it can’t dive down to eat, it can’t get out of the way of predators, it can’t get out of the way of boats, so it really is quite a tragic thing.”
An estimated 5.25 trillion bits of plastic trash is believed to be floating around in the world’s oceans, with eight million tons of plastic likely added to these numbers every year, according to a report last year.
Experts have studied both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, concluding that they have large swatches of open water littered with floating plastic that ultimately ends up as microscopic plastic fragments. These particles, which are invariably mistaken for food and ingested by marine life, mostly turtles, adversely impact their digestive system.
Also referred to as the buoyancy disorder, the floating syndrome is among the leading reasons why turtles get trapped or abandoned in their own oceanic habitat. As sea turtles feed underwater, this condition inhibits them from feeding and causing them to perish. Moreover, these animals are unable to submerge and are easily sighted or driven ashore owing to this condition. More often than not, they get decimated by boats or get fatally entangled in fishing nets.
Many sea turtles are reportedly introduced to rehab owing to the floating syndrome. Meanwhile, turtle conservationists have consistently voiced their outrage at the damaging implications of this threat and have urged for prompt and stringent measures to ensure successful rehabilitation.
[Image via Shutterstock]
