Just imagine how you will feel if you eat something which enters into your digestive system and plugs up your intestines resulting in you being unable to consume anything else forcing you to starve. Just the thought of that gives makes you cringe, right? Well, t
hat is exactly what the sea turtles and other marine animals have to go through when us humans indiscriminately use and dump plastics into our waterways.
On an average, it is estimated that approximately eight metric tonnes of our plastic waste enters the oceans, which affects the survival of marine life resulting in more casualties. This is coupled with the every changing effects of climate change.
While the rainforests are responsible for roughly one-third (28%) of the earth’s oxygen, most (70%) of the oxygen in the atmosphere is produced by marine plants hence the reason to protect our marine life.
The ocean produces oxygen through the plants (phytoplankton, kelp, and algal plankton) that live in it. These plants produce oxygen as a byproduct of photosynthesis, a process that converts carbon dioxide and sunlight into sugars the organism can use for energy. One type of phytoplankton, Prochlorococcus, releases countless tons of oxygen into the atmosphere. It is so small that millions can fit in a drop of water.
Dr. Sylvia A. Earle, a National Geographic Explorer, has estimated that Prochlorococcus provides the oxygen for one in every five breaths we take.
This year, for World Environment Day the focus was on banning single use plastics as a consorted effort to tackle plastic pollution.
However, for years the Guyana Marine Turtle Conservation Society (now the Guyana Marine Conservation Society) has been advocating for the curtailing of the use of plastics since they often end up in the ocean. According to long time Conservation Activist, Annette Arjoon-Martins when we dump our plastics in the ocean, it looks like a jellyfish and the turtles do not know the difference between a plastic bag that looks like a jellyfish and a real jellyfish so they go and feed on them.
When the turtles ingest the plastic bag it basically blocks their intestines and acts as a plug forcing them to starve to death.
“For an animal that lives for almost 100 years they are there with a plastic bag stuck in their stomachs dying a slow death. So what happens there is that they cannot dive either because turtles have to decompress to dive because they have to dive to feed. When these animals could no longer dive to feed and they are stuck bobbing on the top of the ocean and their capris exposed to sunlight for days and end and they are also cooking there…imagine how horrific it is for them,” Arjoon-Martins said.
Over the last 10 years, the Guyana Marine Turtle Conservation Society noticed an increase in the numbers of turtles being brought to shore by fisher folks after they would have ingested plastics. The Society has a close relationship with the Guyana Zoo and Coast Guards who aid in the recuperation and release of the turtles.
Arjoon-Martins says when she first started protecting the turtles at Shell Beach over twenty five years ago, the beach would be lined with naturally decomposing debris such as sticks and coconut shells now it is plagued with plastic debris which makes it more dangerous. She noted that they would have had their challenges but in 2007, the Protected Areas Commission took over the Shell Beach and the turtle conservation project, which made it more sustainable since the PAC is supplemented by the government.
After the PAC took over the sea turtle conservation project, the Guyana Marine Turtle Conservation Society then began focusing on general marine conservation. This effort intensified when there were three reported incidents of sperm whales beaching in Guyana without any answers.
“We realized that something is going on in our marine space and that is why we got really energized in getting more and more in it and in January 2016 we changed the name (to Guyana Marine Conservation Society). What is sad is we don’t have the marine vets and capacity to do forensic investigation to determine why the whales were washed up. If there were activities going on in our waters (at that time) then we would have to know,” the conservationist noted.
The Society is now focused more on educating the youth population about the dangers of plastics in the ocean, with the hope of them making an impact on the general psyche.
So the next time you buy an item, refuse the plastic bag and start walking with your environmentally friendly bags. (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)
