"I was shocked at how little is known about the impacts of plastic on marine turtles," Sarah Nelms, one of the study's lead authors from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter, said in a news release. "We know that discarded plastic poses a serious threat to wildlife, but this study shows that more research is urgently needed if we are to understand the scale of the problem."
Annual global plastic production has grown from 1.5 million tons to 299 million tons in the last 65 years, according to the release. This only increases the amount of plastic pollution that ends up on both land and at sea. While previous studies have identified the threat of plastic pollution on seabird populations, for the recent study researchers specifically examined how sea turtles ingest or become entangled in discarded plastic debris.
When plastic materials are discarded at sea, turtles and other marine animals risk becoming entangled in the debris. This could lead to lacerations, increased drag when swimming, and ultimately death from drowning or starvation. Beach-bound hatchlings face equal threat, and if newborn sea turtles are threatened, populations may not be able to rebound.
The study, recently published in the ICES Journal of Marine Science, highlights mitigation policies conservationists can use to better protect sea turtle populations.
