Plastic and the turtle

In France, 85% of sea turtles have ingested plastic waste from everyday consumption. These are the alarming findings of researchers from the European INDICIT project, who are studying the presence of plastic in the digestive tracts of these marine animals.

Sea turtle swallowing a plastic bag resembling a jellyfish, one of its natural foods. Atlantic Ocean.
Paulo de Oliveira - Biosphoto

"Cake wrappers, lollipop sticks, cotton buds, corks, salad dressing bottles, rubbish bags, bits of cup..." These are just some of the disposable objects that Gaëlle Darmon, a researcher at the CEFE (Centre for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology), didn't expect to find almost systematically in the appliance. So many disposable objects that Gaëlle Darmon, a researcher at the Centre d'écologie fonctionnelle et évolutive (CEFE), didn't expect to find almost systematically in turtles' digestive tracts.

Floating turtles

For almost 2 years, the researcher and her colleagues have been tracking the presence of plastic in the digestive tracts of sea turtles. According to the initial findings of the INDICIT(Indicator Impact Turtle) project, 60% of the 1,000 loggerhead turtles observed have ingested plastic waste. This varies between 25% and 85% depending on the country," explains Gaëlle Darmon, " with a rate of around 80 - 85% for France, Italy and Spain. In the French Mediterranean region, the figure is as high as 100%.

With serious consequences for these emblematic animals of marine fauna. " While direct death from intestinal occlusion or perforation occurs in only 1 or 2% of cases, ingesting plastic has other serious health consequences", notes the researcher. The plastics in their digestive tracts prevent turtles from feeding and moving normally. "We've seen turtles that were floating and couldn't dive because the plastic bubbled up.

A study conducted in seven countries

To carry out this project, some one hundred players in seven countries were mobilized. In France - where the project is led by the CNRS - Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey and Tunisia, researchers from ten laboratories have joined forces with care centers and stranding networks. " Thanks to them, we were able to carry out autopsies on dead turtles and study the excrement of turtles brought to the care centers alive", explains Gaëlle Darmon.

In Montpellier, these observations were made possible by the Centre d'études et de sauvegarde des tortues marines de Méditerranée (CESTMed) based in Grau du Roi and the Réseau des tortues marines de Méditerranée française (RTMMF).

The study, which will be completed in January 2019, will, according to the researcher, "enable us to draw up an inventory of pollution in the Atlantic and Mediterranean zones in order to assess the effectiveness of the measures that will be taken", but also, and above all, to raise public awareness of "the urgent need to reduce our consumption of single-use objects".