Research suggests that 52% of the world’s turtles have eaten plastic waste. A new study suggests one piece of plastic has a 22 percent chance of killing a turtle that eats it, and 14 pieces will kill half Ocean Plastic & Sea Turtles. On many beaches, plastic pollution is so pervasive that it’s affecting turtles’ reproduction rates by altering the temperatures of the sand where incubation occurs. A recent study found that sea turtles that ingest just 14 pieces of plastic have an increased risk of death. Baby turtles are almost four times more likely to be killed by ingesting plastic waste compared to adults. Plastic pollution ends up inside sea turtles - Duration: 1:47. seaturtles911 20,878 views. Our sea turtle Conservation volunteers visit schools and community centres and talk about the environment, recycling and how plastic pollution is killing turtles. Sea turtles are affected by plastic during every stage of their life. This includes whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals and sea lions. How does plastic affect marine life? The sea turtles had ingested plastic that was green, black or clear, which greatly resembled their food source, sea grass. Patrolling. So while plastic straws may not be killing sea turtles in hordes, they are killing sea birds, and plastic overall have caused huge and deadly effects to many sealife species. The amount of plastic found in each of the turtles … They looked at how the creatures reacted to the smell of turtle food, ocean-soaked plastic, clean plastic … Plastic is killing 40 per cent of young sea turtles, shocking new research has shown. The researchers studied 15 young loggerhead turtles brought up in captivity. There are two principle ways that encountering marine debris can be fatal for these creatures: ingestion (eating) or entanglement in plastic-based fishing gear. "There also are increasing reports of sea turtles that have become ill and stranded on the beach due to their ingestion of plastic." Globally, 100,000 marine mammals die every year as a result of plastic pollution. Our sea turtle Conservation volunteers in Mexico and Conservation volunteers in Peru, patrol beaches day-and-night to find turtle … The reasons are simple: a floating plastic bag can look like a lot of jellyfish, algae, or other species that make up a large component of the sea turtles’ diets. Science now has proof that plastic debris is killing sea turtles. https://www.gtecham.com/en/plastic-pollution-is-killing-sea-turtles-heres-how Plastic has only been mass-produced since the 1940s, but it’s having a devastating impact on sea turtles. 1:47. They crawl through plastic on the way to the ocean as hatchlings, swim through it while migrating, confuse it for jellyfish (one of their favorite foods), and then crawl back through it as adults. 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