Australia: Dead turtle swallowed 317 plastic pieces

Belinda Cranston AAP Sydney Morning Herald 30 Jun 11;

A giant sea turtle found dead on a NSW beach is likely to have starved after more than 300 pieces of plastic it swallowed caused its digestive system to shut down, a marine biologist says.

The 40cm turtle was found washed up on a beach at Ballina, on the NSW far north coast, earlier this month.

A necropsy procedure found it had swallowed 317 pieces of plastic, including three varieties of plastic bags - clear, black and blue - plastic lids, several lolly pop sticks, fishing line and packing tape, Australian Seabird Rescue spokeswoman Rochelle Ferris told AAP.

"Its digestive system became so impacted with the undigestible material that the system basically shut down and that turtle slowly starved to death," she said.

Ms Ferris, who is a marine biologist, said she was aware of 40 to 50 cases of turtles suffering from plastic ingestion each year, but this was a particularly disturbing discovery.

"We've rescued hundreds of sea turtles. This is the worst case we've seen," she said.

She called on federal, state and territory governments to act to halt the flow of garbage streaming into oceans from urban rivers and waterways.

"The government knows this is a problem," she said.

"The science is there that says 36 per cent of sea turtles are affected by plastic debris."

Ms Ferris said there were only seven species of sea turtles on the planet.

"We only operate on 250 kilometres of coastline," she said.

"It makes me sick to imagine how many turtles are dying long, slow deaths across the country where there is no help."