More Than One-Third Of Leatherback Turtle Mortality Due To Ingesting Plastic Bag Garbage - Mongabay

[hatrack]

A new study in Marine Pollution Bullentin has confirmed that the world's largest sea turtle is succumbing in startling numbers to an environmental issue that receives little attention: plastic trash in the oceans. To conduct his study Dr. Mike James from Dalhousie University and colleagues looked back over four decades of leatherback necropsies, i.e. post-mortems of animals.

“We wanted to see if plastics ingestion in leatherbacks was hype or reality,” says James. It has long been theorized that leatherbacks often confuse plastic trash, especially plastic bags, with one of their favorite prey—jellyfish. In an unfortunate connection, both jellyfish and plastic trash are often found at where oceanic water masses meet.

“After reviewing the results of 371 necropsies since 1968, we discovered over one third of the turtles had ingested plastic,” James says.

Plastic consumed by turtles leads to partial or complete obstruction of gastrointestinal tract. While the plastic takes its toll on the turtle's diet, energy, and reproduction, a complete blockage can lead to starvation. The more plastic a turtle ingests the more likely the trash will kill it, but even a little plastic can weaken a turtle significantly.

EDIT

http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0316-hance_leatherbackplastic.html

[XemaSab]

1. If you hear a gunshot

That's just me. :(

[Barrett808]

2. I hear that. n/t

[eppur_se_muova]

3. A problem for all sea turtles -- hawksbills, Ridleys, etc.

Book Rec! "Voyage of the Turtle", by Safina:
http://www.carlsafina.org/voyage.html

[petronius]

4. That's pretty distressing. This may be a stretch, but I noticed last time we were

in Hawaii that the stores only had plastic bags (which makes sense, since the bags had to be shipped in like everything else). I wonder if the sources of the bags the turtles are ingesting is close to the turtle habitat, and if the local economies are particularly favorable to plastic over paper?

Would a reusable bag campaign local have any effect on turtle risk, and if so, where shoul it take place?

[Nihil]

6. The answer to your first question is "Probably" ...

... the answers to your second & third are "Yes" & "Everywhere" respectively.

[tom_paine]

5. We can do better than that! Let's get it up to ONE-HALF or TWO-THIRDS mortality!

Go Team Tool-Using Primates!

:sarcasm:

:puke: