Earthwatch in the news: QLD flood rubbish threatens marine turtles with painful death
Media Release - Thursday, 03 March 2011 14:04
The massive amount of rubbish dumped into the ocean during the Queensland floods has increased the risk to the marine turtles of the Queensland coast, according to the head of the Earthwatch Institute (Australia) funded 'Turtles in Trouble' research project.
Speaking of the eve of Clean Up Australia Day and the start of Sea Week, Dr Kathy Townsend, University of Queensland who heads up the project, now in its third year, said "The research so far has found that up to 35% of the sea turtles have died due to marine rubbish, through a combination of ingestion and/or entanglement."
Image below - Turtle gut rubbish from the large intestine of a marine turtle.
It was reported earlier this week on the Turtles in Trouble Facebook page, a 14 cm tiny baby flat back turtle was found to have over 100 pieces of plastic in its stomach.
The Earthwatch program 'Turtles in Trouble' is focused on protecting Queensland's turtles for generations to come. Turtles have been found to have eaten most plastic items, but the most common items eaten are plastic bags and hard broken down plastics.
Dr Townsend said turtles are often more susceptible than other marine animals to marine rubbish as they do not have the ability to regurgitate. Once a turtle ingests this type of rubbish the gut becomes paralysed and gases build up in the turtle's stomach, which cause it to float and make it unable to dive for food. It's a slow, painful death.
"The Queensland floods have now added dramatically to the pollution issue and we now face escalating issues of protecting this rare species of marine turtles, not only against existing marine rubbish, but also from the impact of silt, chemicals on seagrass and hard rubbish items swept into the sea during the floods".
"The floods have also impacted on the research program itself with two teams of volunteers from Brisbane, scheduled to take part in the project, being delayed whilst they deal with their own flood related problems."
Andy Donnelly, Science Director of Earthwatch said, "the large amount of rubbish flushed into the marine environment by the floods meant it was critical to enlist volunteers to take part in the 'Turtle in Trouble' program as soon as possible to assess the floods short term and long term impact."
Join a Turtles in Trouble research team today
Media coverage
1. Concerns for sea turtles after floods - Seven News Queensland
4 Mar 2011 ... There are grave concerns for the welfare of sea turtles living off southeast Queensland as flood pollution washes out into the ocean.
au.news.yahoo.com/queensland/a/-/.../concerns-for-sea-turtles-after-floods/
2. Concerns for sea turtles after floods - Yahoo!7
4 Mar 2011 ... There are grave concerns for the welfare of sea turtles ...
au.news.yahoo.com/qld-floods/a/-/.../concerns-for-sea-turtles-after-floods/
3. Concerns for sea turtles after floods
Concerns for sea turtles after floods. March 4, 2011 - 12:59PM ... for the welfare of sea turtles living off the coast of southeast Queensland as pollution ...
news.brisbanetimes.com.au/.../concerns-for-sea-turtles-after-floods-20110304-1bhhh.html
4. World News Australia - Concerns for sea turtles after floods
4 Mar 2011 ... There are grave concerns for the welfare of sea turtles living off southeast Queensland as flood pollution washes out into the ocean.
www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1494726/latest-from-wire/
5. Concerns for sea turtles after floods
3 Mar 2011 ... Dead Toll Reaches 40 - Queensland Flood Disaster Update .... You have created the news event “Concerns for sea turtles after floods” and it ...
www.allvoices.com/.../8366749-concerns-for-sea-turtles-after-floods - United States
6. National News | smh.com.au
Concerns for sea turtles after floods. 1:59pm There are grave concerns for the welfare of sea turtles living off southeast Queensland as flood pollution ...
www.smh.com.au/national/
7. National News - Yalgoo Shire - where the outback begins.
Qld Lungfish court battle dismissed, 2:06 PM ... Flood definition not too hard: Shorten, 2:05 PM ... Concerns for sea turtles after floods, 1:53 PM ...
www.yalgoo.wa.gov.au/NationalNews.aspx
8. Breaking News: Latest Business, Local, National & World News
Concerns for sea turtles after floods. 1:59pm There are grave concerns for the welfare of sea turtles living off southeast Queensland as flood pollution ...
news.theage.com.au
9. News Wire
Concerns for sea turtles after floods. 10:52am There are grave concerns for the welfare of sea turtles living off southeast Queensland as flood pollution ...
www.watoday.com.au/news-wire/national
1. Concerns for sea turtles after floods - Yahoo!Xtra News
4 Mar 2011 ... There are grave concerns for the welfare of sea turtles living off southeast Queensland as flood pollution washes out into the ocean.
nz.news.yahoo.com/.../concerns-for-sea-turtles-after-floods/
1. Breaking News - National
Concerns for sea turtles after floods. 1:59pm There are grave concerns for the welfare of sea turtles living off southeast Queensland as flood pollution ...
news.theage.com.au/national/
2. Australian News | MyAusnetDotCom
Concerns for sea turtles after floods 03/03/2011 07:59 PM. There are grave concerns for the welfare of sea turtles living off southeast Queensland as flood ...
www.myausnet.com
3. Top 5 Guide - Local News, Perth Western Australia
Concerns for sea turtles after floods. There are grave concerns for the welfare of sea turtles living off southeast Queensland as flood pollution washes out ...
www.top5guide.com.au/news.php
4. SBS - National News
Concerns for sea turtles after floods. 04 Mar 2011, 1:53PM. There are grave concerns for the welfare of sea turtles living off southeast Queensland as flood ...
www.sbs.com.au/news/national
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