Hello! As I was looking for volunteering opportunities at NParks, I came across this interesting opportunity!

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NParks Biodiversity Beach Patrol Online Training Session
Do you love sea turtles and horseshoe crabs, or have an interest to learn more about them? Join us for the Biodiversity Beach Patrol and contribute to a citizen science study on these amazing marine creatures.

The Biodiversity Beach Patrol will be conducted overnight from July to September 2020.

For more info:
https://www.nparks.gov.sg/gardens-parks-and-nature/parks-and-nature-reserves/sisters-islands-marine-park/iyor/biodiversity-beach-patrol
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As I was looking up into this, it really got me thinking: What are the effects of our macroscopic pollutants on wildlife? Since the Biodiversity Beach Patrol is mainly focused on sea turtles, let us discuss about the plight of sea turtles and how macroscopic pollution affects them.

Diagram showing the effects of floating plastic garbage on turtles. Taken from World Wildlife Fund, n.d. Plastic Effects On Turtles

A translucent, shapeless plastic bag looks similar to a jellyfish while fishing nets look like yummy seaweed to sea turtles. Sea turtles think that they’re eating their usual favourite food but actually, they are ingesting some seriously nasty stuff.

Snacking on plastic is a terrible, terrible idea. Plastic can block up their intestines and more painfully, can even pierce their intestinal walls leading to internal bleeding. More tragically, plastics can collect in their stomachs, giving them a “full” feeling. Eventually, the turtles will die from starvation. The more plastic they eat, the higher the chances of them dying. (Brown, 2020)

Picture of sea turtle entangled in net. Taken from Wikipedia Commons

Consumption is not the only problem. Entanglement is another issue. Although sea turtles are strong swimmers, they can very easily get entangled in nets and plastic debris. Once entangled, they might lose limbs, choke to death or even drown as they are unable to surface (University of Exeter, 2017).

 

Reference:

Brown, F., 2020. How much plastic does it take to kill a turtle?. CSIRO, [online] Available at: <https://www.csiro.au/en/News/News-releases/2018/How-much-plastic-does-it-take-to-kill-a-turtle> [Accessed 29 June 2020].

University of Exter, 2017. Marine Turtles Dying After Becoming Entangled In Plastic Rubbish. [online] Available at: <https://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/research/title_629352_en.html> [Accessed 29 June 2020].