Hundreds of shards reveal the threat to wildlife from debris floating in our seas

This collection of hundreds of coloured, jagged shards could be a work of abstract art. But the !==!--object--==s in one of the photograph posted here are the contents of the stomach of a sea turtle that lost its battle with plastic pollution.

Environmentalists examined the stomach of the juvenile turtle found off the coast of Argentina. The bellyful of debris that they found is symptomatic of the increasing threat to the sea turtles from a human addiction to plastic.

Sea turtles often mistake plastic items for jellyfish or other food. Ingesting non-biodegradable ocean pollution can cause a digestive blockage and internal lacerations. The result can be debilitation, followed by death.

Humans currently produce 260 million tons of plastic a year. When those products are pulled into the sea's currents, the plastics do not biodegrade but are broken into smaller pieces which are consumed by marine life at the bottom of the food chain. An examination of gastrointestinal obstruction in a green turtle found off Florida discovered that, over the course of a month, the animal's faeces had contained 74 foreign !==!--object--==s, including "four types of latex balloons, different types of hard plastic, a piece of carpet-like material and two 2-4mm tar balls."

"The oceans have become one giant refuse bin for all manner of plastics. All sea turtle species are particularly prone and may be seriously harmed," according to the biologists .

Almost all marine species, from plankton to whales, have ingested plastic. But, even in small quantities, plastic can kill sea turtles due to obstruction of the oesophagus or perforation of the bowel, the biologists said.

Fifty out of 92 turtles found dead, stranded on the shorelines of Rio Grande do Sul state in Brazil, had ingested a "considerable amount of man-made debris".

Because young sea turtles indiscriminately feed on pelagic material, "high occurrences of plastic are common in the digestive tract of these small sea turtles," the biologists write.

 Source : "The Independent ", UK

Visitors to the sea/ocean/beach should rather bring their own reusable bags and food containers, and avoid throwing plastic-bottled drinks or any other kind of harmful trash into the oceans/seas.

Lets spread this as much as possible to make people aware of the harmful consequences of their silly /careless actions while they are on the coast of water bodies.