5 Gyres - Understanding Plastic Pollution Through Exploration, Education, and Action

Aussie Seabird Rescuer Rochelle Ferris has performed her share of Sea Turtle necropsies. But this one shocked her, a veteran of 15 years.

Volunteers found and brought Rochelle the dead sea turtle, a teenager by her estimates. On conducting an autopsy, they found 315 pieces of plastic in its intestinal tract. Before this, the record holder for plastic ingestion was 130. There was, in her opinion, no question that plastic caused the turtle's death.

This gut wrenching video (literally) shows the spectrum of plastic pieces ingested by the turtle - mainly household, consumer plastics - plastic bag fragments, plastic lollipop sticks, plastic lids, etc.
Quite a few plastic bags in fact....(and this, in the face of a massive backlash from plastic bag manufacturers against bag bans.)

What's interesting is that this is not a new phenomenon. There are reports on plastic ingestion by sea turtles dating back to the 60s. A comprehensive study looking at 408 autopsies of Leatherbacks found 37% of Leatherbacks since 1968 had plastic in their GI tract. (Leatherback Turtles: The menace of plastic).  What's new is the response from mainstream media, activists, scientists, and legislators world wide - we now recognize that this is a problem, and many of us are working hard to try and fix it. And if we falter, doubt, or get overwhelmed, watching this video should convince us that our work is meaningful and necessary. Every single piece plastic in the marine environment is potentially lethal for a turtle, whale, or sea lion. Its our job now to prevent it from getting there in the first place.


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