Plastic scourge in UAE: Turtles dying from trash consumption

The hawksbill sea turtle was lying on its back on the metal autopsy table, its shell ashen and stomach taut.

The adolescent turtle washed up on a beach in Kalba, a city on the east coast of the United Arab Emirates, about a week ago. The coast of mangrove trees, which was once unspoiled, is now polluted by trash dragged from nearby landfills. Plastic bags, packages, bottle caps — and, all too often, dead turtles — are strewn across the beach.

Initially, Fadi Yaghmour, a marine expert who examined 200 turtles for the Middle East’s first research on the subject, extracted typical fare from the carcass — squid beaks and oysters.

Then it became clear who was to blame for the creature’s demise: shrivelled balloons and plastic foam, which were among the last things the turtle ate.

“It’s probably malnourished,” Yaghmour said as he worked last week to The Associated Press. He claims that plastic clogs turtles’ digestive tracts, causing them to starve.

This turtle is one of 64 collected from the shores of Kalba and Khor Fakkan in Sharjah’s larger emirate to be analysed in Yaghmour’s lab. His research team has published a new study in the Marine Pollution Bulletin that seeks to document the damage and dangers of the throwaway plastic that has surged in use around the world, including in the UAE, as well as other marine debris.