Sea turtles are under threat from plastic throughout their entire lives. They crawl through it on their journey to the ocean for the first time, swim through it when migrating, in adulthood, and worst of all, confuse it for food. [1]

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Research conducted by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) found that a turtle had a 22% chance of dying if it ate just one piece of plastic. Once a turtle has 14 plastic items in its gut, its survival rate is 50%. Worst of all is when the plastic in the stomach imitates the sensation of being full. Turtles then stop looking for other food sources and die of starvation. An estimated 1000 turtles die each year from plastic waste. [2]

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Created entirely from marine debris found in Saint John, New Brunswick, Fall 2020.

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The fourth in the PLASTIC series.

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18 L x 12 W x 11.5 H - in

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In the gallery

 

 

 

 

[1] SEE Turtles: https://www.seeturtles.org/ocean-plastic/

[2] WWF: https://www.wwf.org.au/news/blogs/plastic-pollution-is-killing-sea-turtles-heres-how#gs.oajvku