All photos in this article were taken by me. All Rights Reserved.
The beach off of NC 12, near Black Pelican Beach, just north of Avon, NC.
This year, we visited the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I’d only ever been there once, in 2003, just before Hurricane Isabel altered parts of the barrier islands. We enjoyed the landscapes, the nature reserves, the wildlife, the quaint towns, and of course, the beaches.
Natural Beauty
The Outer Banks are a string of barrier islands that span and protect nearly the entire coast of North Carolina. As an Outer Banks Guide explained, “They are made entirely of sand, without the keel of rock that anchors most islands firmly to the earth. It is a fascinatÂingly evanescent phenomenon in geological terms, a landform so transient that changes are visible from year to year.”1 Though there is a lot of development, there are vast natural areas, preserves, dunes, and beaches. We saw inspiring sun rises on the ocean side and gorgeous sunsets on the sound side.
Sunset over the sound, taken from the Duck Town Park Boardwalk, Duck, NC.
Wildlife
There were more birds and crabs than I can list, as well as deer and other animals. Pelicans seemed to enjoy showing off their graceful glide just inches above the sea. Sandpipers and terns poked into the sand seeking food. A few times, I sat really still on the beach when there weren’t a lot of people around, and I became surrounded by ghost crabs! The Outer Banks have laws and protected areas for wildlife throughout the islands. They restricted humans from some places to protect bird nests:
Do Not Enter signs from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service on the Outer Banks, NC.
We even saw sea turtle tracks!
Sea turtle tracks at Oregon Inlet, NC.
But sadly, we also found a dead sea turtle. We visited an area called Oregon Inlet and had a picnic snack on the beach. Then we walked along the beach and picked up trash.
The beach along Oregon Inlet, NC.
In the distance, I could see something big with orange stripes and wasn’t sure what it was until we got right up to it. Once I realized that it was a deceased sea turtle, I cried. I don’t know what caused its death, but I was sorry that it had lost its life. When I went to report the turtle, I discovered that spray paint markings like these indicate that this turtle had already been reported. Scientists document the animal’s species, sex, and age, and also extract genetic material to study and to better understand those species.
Deceased sea turtle with orange spray paint markings.
The National Park Service has many sites in the Outer Banks, including several lighthouses and the Wright Brothers National Memorial, and they had one on Ocracoke Island that offered sea turtle education. My son learned a lot from the rangers and their exhibit.
My son listened to the National Park Service rangers and learned about sea turtle nesting on the Outer Banks. National Park Service site on Ocracoke Island.Sea turtle nesting exhibit at the National Park Service site on Ocracoke Island.
Trash
As usual for my family, we picked up litter and beachcombed. Following are three of the piles we accumulated, containing a range of items – bottles of sunscreen, pieces of toys, Styrofoam/polystyrene, pieces of nylon rope, fireworks debris, food wrappers, plastic bags and film, and many, many small pieces of plastic. I uploaded images of each individual item into the Litterati app.
As you can see, we found quite a variety of items, some recognizable and some not! Some of these items likely washed up on the beach from other places or fell off of boats, but others were obviously left behind. It’s so important to remember to leave the beach cleaner than you found it! Plastic pollution exponentially increases annually and is harming everything in the food chain, including humans.
Below are a few of my favorite finds – a broken green-haired plastic mermaid, a fishermen’s glove, and two missile-shaped diving weights that we ended up using and keeping!
I also found these goggles, which at first I thought someone had dropped. But upon closer examination, I noticed that these had been in the ocean long enough to grow barnacles:
Jennette’s Pier
Located in Nags Head, NC, and used for sightseeing and fishing, this pier is unique. It was originally built in 1939 by the Jennette family, hence the name. The North Carolina Aquarium Society bought it in 2003 with the intention of building an educational outpost for the Aquarium, but Hurricane Isabel severely damaged the pier later that same year. The Aquarium rebuilt the 1000-foot-long, concrete pier with educational panels throughout and it reopened in 2011.2 It is LEED certified and has 3 wind turbines:
Wind turbine at Jennette’s Pier.
They had exhibit panels on birds and marine mammals and shorebirds, such as this one:
“Sea Turtle Rescue” sign at Jennette’s Pier.
They had others on many topics, including surfing, ocean processes, fishing, and trash. In fact, they had sponsored recycling stations for items like cigarette butts and fishing line:
Recycling station for fishing line.Recycling station for cigarette butts, to be recycled by TerraCycle.
The Pier House features a small, free series of North Carolina Aquariums interactive exhibits. I highly recommend visiting this pier if you’re ever on the Outer Banks!
My son standing in front of one of the North Carolina Aquarium exhibit tanks.
Other Cool Finds
Outer Banks Brewing Station
We ate at this brewery and restaurant, which was once featured on Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. While we went to several good restaurants, I’m featuring this one because it uses wind energy! It was the first wind-powered brewery in the United States, and the first business to produce wind power on the Outer Banks. They use 100% of the turbine’s energy to supplement their electricity. Over the course of its operating life (at least 30 years), this 10 kW Bergey GridTek system will offset approximately 1.2 tons of air pollutants and 250 tons of greenhouse gases.3 Oh, and we enjoyed the food and brew!
My husband at the Outer Banks Brewing Station, preparing for his flight (of beer)!Wind turbine at the Outer Banks Brewing Station.
The Surfin’ Spoon
This frozen yogurt shop in Nags Head was my son’s absolute favorite, and they also offered dairy-free ice cream treats that were delicious! This shop, owned by a former professional surfer, collects and donates money to Surfers for Autism, a non-profit that provides free surf sessions to children and adults with autism and other related developmental delays and disabilities.4
My son peeking through the Surfin’ Spoon’s sign.
Dog friendly
Almost everywhere on the Outer Banks is super dog friendly! I found this pleasantly surprising and hope to bring our dog there someday.
Overall, A Lovely Place to Travel
We saved up for this trip and felt privileged to be able to travel the Outer Banks, taking in many sights from Corolla all the way down to Emerald Isle, North Carolina. We saw several lighthouses, National Park Service sites, and other places that I didn’t have time to mention above. I highly recommend the Outer Banks for its beauty, dedication to conservation, and relaxed atmosphere. Thanks for reading, please share and subscribe!
My son playing on the beach in the early evening in Duck, NC.
In my recent article about my trip to Hilton Head Island and its environmental consciousness, I mentioned that the beaches are really clean and well-maintained. Even with their efforts, I still picked up about 300 pieces of trash during my week there. Of course, I logged these into my Litterati app.
I thought I could put the images of my trash to good use, to show people how they can prevent beach and ocean pollution!
I bet you already know a lot about this. But if you share this article, it might enlighten others who will then use preventative measures. And then the world could be a less polluted place!
“Worldwide, 73 percent of beach litter is plastic.” -National Geographic5
Common Types of Beach Trash
I noticed that the same types of trash commonly appear on beaches all over the country. So I’ve divided this article into sections based on the common types of trash I’ve found.
Plastic water bottle almost in the surf. Photo by Marie Cullis.
Plastic drink bottles and caps
These are the most common items I pick up EVERYWHERE, and not just on beaches. Our love affair with drinks in single-use disposable plastic bottles and cups (I’m including styrofoam in this classification because styrofoam is chemically a plastic) is completely out of control. I even picked a red Solo cup that I used to collect cigarette butts and microplastics! I picked up many single-use disposable drink items like these:
Photos by Marie Cullis.
What can you do?
Buy a reusable drink container (or two) and use that for all your liquid refreshments. I have two: a Kleen Kanteen for water; and a Hydroflask coffee cup. They handle pretty much everything.
If you must buy a beverage, please dispose of it properly.
Food and snack wrappers
I find this type of litter on the beach (and everywhere else) very often. This includes food wrappers, containers, zipper bags, etc. Below is an image of a washed-up cannonball jellyfish next to the plastic lid of a cylindric chip container.
Plastic lid next to a washed-up jellyfish. Photo by Marie Cullis.
Here are some additional examples of food and snack wrappers:
Snack bag found on the beach in South Carolina. Photos by Marie Cullis.
What can you do?
Follow the saying, “Leave it cleaner than you found it.” Or “carry in, carry out.” Don’t lose track of your trash and disposables. Put them inside your beach bag until you can find a proper trash can. You can also consume less prepackaged food, which will be better for your health as well.
Beach Toys
This is one item that is particular to beaches but so easily preventable. Children scatter and lose their things easily, and almost all beach toys are made of plastic. When people leave these items on the beach, they go straight into the ocean during high tide.
Photo by Marie Cullis.Photo by Marie Cullis.
You can see how easily small toys are overlooked in the next image. Can you guess what that is?
Photo by Marie Cullis.
If you guessed a toy car, you’ve got a good eye!
Here are some other examples of left behind or broken toys:
There were so many abandoned toys on the beach. We weren’t trying to steal toys, I promise! We picked these up as the sun was setting to prevent them from being washed into the ocean at high tide. We donated all but one item to the thrift store. Photos by Marie Cullis.
We found this and my son named it “Mr. Boat.” We kept this one and donated the rest. Photo by Marie Cullis.
In particular, we found multiple plastic bucket straps, as they are not usually permanently affixed. These are easily forgotten about but this cheap plastic will make it into the ocean by the next morning.
Photos by Marie Cullis.
There are a few brands, such as Green Toys, that feature a rope strap that is not easily removed. The bucket is even made of recycled plastic. It’s the one we own and play with year-round.
What about the packaging for all of those beach toys?
A plastic net bag that the plastic beach toys were sold in, from American Plastic Toys Inc. Photo by Marie Cullis.
Below are images of a discarded boogie board left at a wash station near the beach. I’d seen these little styrofoam balls lining parts of the beach and I couldn’t figure out what they were from. I did not manage to get a good photo of them. Once I found this broken board and looked at it closely, I could see that these cheap boards were simply nylon or polyester fabric (fabrics made from plastics) over styrofoam. You could not make a worse product for the beach – a product meant to be used in the water that is made of cheap materials and not meant to last more than one vacation – WOW.
Please don’t buy these. This one made it into a proper trash can, but how many end up in the ocean?
Photos by Marie Cullis.
What about the dog’s toys? These can be easily lost. And yes, they are made of plastics and other synthetics.
Photo by Marie Cullis.
What can you do?
The best thing you can do is to not leave beach toys behind. The best way to keep track of your children’s toys is simply to own less of them. Perhaps just one bucket and one shovel, for example. In general, kids don’t need many toys when playing outdoors to stay entertained and engaged. Besides the sand and water, the beach offers so many shells, sticks, seaweed, and other washed-up items that kids are curious about and love to experiment with.
Place broken toys in your beach bag immediately so that you don’t accidentally leave them behind.
As for dog toys, how about throwing a stick for Fido instead of a ball or plastic Frisbee?
Items related to smoking
This is another common item I find everywhere and not just at the beach. Corporations make cigarette butts out of synthetic materials that do not biodegrade. Plastic lighters are found in the stomachs of birds and marine animals. Honestly, I used to smoke a long time ago and I sometimes threw cigarette butts on the ground. I had no idea how bad they were for the environment. I pick them up regularly now as part of my Litterati mission, as I feel like I owe the environment for this terrible habit I used to have.
Photo by Marie Cullis.
I gathered dozens of cigarette butts and several lighters on the beach, here are a few examples:
Photos by Marie Cullis.
I also picked up plastic tips from Swisher Sweets, a brand of inexpensive flavored tip cigarillos.
What can you do?
Don’t smoke! But if you do, can you please discard your waste properly?
Straws
Aren’t straws like so last year?
No, not really. Not yet. Despite straw bans in different parts of the world.
Everywhere we went in Hilton Head served straws, sometimes automatically in the drink. I’m not criticizing the Island for this, because it happens in my town too. But I hope all eateries eventually end this practice. The exception was the Watusi Cafe on Pope Avenue, which served paper straws – thank you!!!
Straws are everywhere! Photos by Marie Cullis.
What can you do?
Ask the server to not give you a straw before he or she brings your drink. I used to decline the straws when the server would set them down on the table, but since so many places automatically put them in the drink, I try to cut them off at the pass. Once that straw is opened and in a drink, it doesn’t matter whether or not I use it. The restaurant will now trash it.
I don’t use a straw very often anymore, but if I need one, I have my Final Straw.
Plastic Bags
I still found a couple of plastic bags on the beach despite the town’s ban on plastic bags!
Photo by Marie Cullis.
What can you do?
Decline plastic bags no matter where you live! Bring your own cloth bag.
If you don’t have a bag, can you carry your items without one? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stopped at a store and purchased one item that the cashier bagged. I don’t need a bag for one item! Give them the bag back right away and say thanks but no thanks!
Many stores do have a paper bag option if you ask for one. If not, they likely have an empty box readily available that you can put your purchases in.
Beach tent/umbrella parts
Many people bring their own beach tents and umbrellas to the beach. But sometimes they leave waste from them. Below you can see where I found a plastic tent stake accidentally left behind and a zip tie of which I found several. The last image is of a full plastic water bottle that someone tied to a nylon string. I found this buried in the sand but the string was sticking out. Once I pulled it out, it was obvious that someone most likely used it as a weight to hold something down. Clever – but forgotten, an immediate pollutant – this would’ve been in the ocean after high tide.
Photos by Marie Cullis.
What can you do?
Collect all of the parts to your tents and umbrellas, even if it’s trash. Double-check before you leave that you haven’t forgotten anything.
Everyday Non-Beach items
I find many items on the beach that are not necessarily beach items but items that people use daily. These items include wet wipes or baby wipes (most often not made of anything biodegradable even if the packaging makes that claim); dryer sheets; plastic dental picks; cellophane; condom wrappers; and even a bullet casing (pictured below).
Wet wipe or baby wipe. Photo by Marie Cullis.Wet wipe or baby wipe. Photo by Marie Cullis.Dryer sheet. Photo by Marie Cullis.Bullet Casing. Photo by Marie Cullis.
The most surprising things I’ve ever found on a beach were plastic tampon applicators in the Gulf of Mexico. At first, I thought, there’s no way someone changed their tampon on the beach! But I found not just one, but multiple of these and I’ve also since found them along the Tennessee River. It dawned on me that these items were not left behind by careless beach-goers, but more likely washed up from trash and from sewage disposal that made it into the ocean. It turns out that litter collectors colloquially call these “beach whistles.”
“Beach whistle,” or tampon applicator. Photo by Marie Cullis.
What can you do?
In general, the best thing you can do is cut down on disposable items, especially single-use disposable plastic items. Even if you’re not leaving these items on the beach, they’re making it onto the beaches and the items are only a portion of what’s washed up from the ocean. Meaning, there’s way more in the ocean.
The answer is to not use disposable items. It isn’t always easy, so just work on solving one problem at a time – that’s what I’m doing and sharing with you on this website!
Photo by Marie Cullis.
Thanks for reading, please subscribe in the box above. Love your beaches and ocean. And keep being the change!
Hilton Head Island just after sunrise. Photo by Marie Cullis.
If you read my article about my family’s weekend trip to Hilton Head Island last fall, then you already know how much we love the island. We recently returned from a week-long trip there, and inspiration was all around! Besides the natural beauty of the island and the gorgeous beaches, there are many environmentally conscious things I appreciate about Hilton Head Island.
My son sitting in the surf, looking out at the vast and beautiful ocean. Photo by Marie Cullis.Sunset on Hilton Head Island. Photo by Marie Cullis.
Plastic bag ban in Beaufort County, South Carolina
They implemented a plastic bag ban last fall, and I am here to tell you that from a tourist’s perspective, businesses have not been hurt by this. People were shopping in all the shops and supermarkets and the plastic bag ban did not seem to deter anyone from spending money. I have not found any studies on the result of this ban in the last 8 months, but I imagine the impact has been huge!
Unfortunately, I read that Target and Walmart are using supposedly “reusable” plastic bags. However, since they are made of the same material as regular plastic bags, they defeat the whole purpose as far as plastic production goes. I did not happen to shop at either store while there so I did not witness this first hand.
At the other shops and stores I visited, I received only paper bags when I didn’t have my cloth bags with me. I love it! Can’t we do this everywhere?
Gorgeous dunes on HHI. Photo by Marie Cullis.
Wildlife
There’s a lot of cherished and protected wildlife on the island. We saw all types of birds, including pelicans – my favorite! We saw dolphins, tons of fish, and several types of crabs. There are also bald eagles, alligators, and turtles living on the island but we didn’t personally get to see those this time. The local government’s website educates on sustainable living, the types of local wildlife, native plants, biodiversity, and ecosystems, and how everyone can help protect those things.
Pelicans flying in a line over the ocean near sunset. Photo by Marie Cullis.Baby crab! Photo by Marie Cullis.
Sea Turtle Conservation Efforts
Although we did not see sea turtles this trip, we saw at least 7 cordoned loggerhead sea turtle nest areas. They were marked with orange signs provided by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, which alerts the public about the protection of this endangered species through federal and state laws.
Loggerhead sea turtle nest, cordoned by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Photo by Marie Cullis.Three loggerhead turtle nests on the north end of the island (Port Royal area). The SC Department of Natural Resources cordoned off the nests. Photo by Marie Cullis.
Many Atlantic coast towns have laws, regulations, and organizations to protect sea turtle nests. On Hilton Head Island, lights on buildings and hotels cannot shine in the direction of the beach. People are only permitted to use red or “turtle-safe” flashlights on the beach between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. between May and October. They have a volunteer organization (Sea Turtle Patrol HHI)Â that patrols, monitors, and reports on sea turtle nests. They also clean up beach litter and plastics.
Recently, a Kemp’s Ridley turtle made a nest on Hilton Head Island, a first-time event for the most endangered of all the sea turtle species! Wow!
The Coastal Discovery Museum has an “Adopt-a-Nest” Program, which not only sponsors the protection of a sea turtle nest but also supports the museum’s educational programs. Of course, this idea excited me so I adopted a nest while writing this post! They emailed me to let me know that my nest will be the 277th one this year and that they’ll keep me informed on the progress of my adopted nest.
Can I inspire you to adopt a nest as well? Just use the link above!
UPDATE February 11, 2024: Since writing this article, I have been able to adopt a sea turtle nest in Hilton Head every year. It’s one of my ways of giving back.
Photo by Skeeze on Pixabay.
Coastal Discovery Museum
The Coastal Discovery Museum on the island is a great non-profit and Smithsonian Affiliate, dedicated to educating and protecting the natural resources, history, and ecosystems of the region. Their mission “inspires people to care for the Lowcountry,” through their many programs, exhibits, talks, and tours. What a great organization.
We’ve visited several times in past years but this year we did a Dolphin and Nature Cruise with the museum and really enjoyed it. And yes, we did see dolphins! The museum docent provided a dolphin skull replica and spoke about the anatomy, diet, and lifestyle of the local dolphins. The captain provided a rich tour of the history and nature of the island. Both the captain and museum docent were very knowledgeable and kept the passengers engaged for the entirety of the cruise. They even let each of the kids drive the boat for a few minutes!
My son driving the boat on the Dolphin & Nature Cruise. Photo by Marie Cullis.
Beach Trash
Hilton Head Island’s beaches are very clean and well-maintained. And there are both trash and recycling cans up and down the beach. Even so, I still picked up about 300 pieces of trash during my week there. Of course, I logged these through Litterati (see also my article on Litterati). My next article will be about the types of trash I found and what you can do to prevent beach trash and ocean pollution!
I love books and love sharing them with my son. However, once in a while, we come across a book that offers poor or inaccurate information. This book is one of those. I like to focus on positive reviews, but I feel reviewing this book is important for people to be aware of because it has a lot of misleading information, in my humble opinion.
We know that while there are a few great uses for plastic in the world, such as plastic heart valves and vision care, most plastics are wasteful, full of toxins, and are not reusable. Unfortunately, we humans have gone overboard on plastic consumption and waste, which is why we have to fight so hard to reverse the damage now.
The Good
The book provides a concise history of plastic development and manufacturing, which is helpful for the recommended age range of 8-12 years. The story explains that post-1950s was “the beginning of our ‘throwaway’ lifestyle. Instead of repairing something, we throw it away and buy something new to replace it.” Here is a missed opportunity to express that that is the wrong thing to do environmentally.
The story mentions that certain types of plastics can be used to make strong materials for safety. These include clothing to protect firefighters and race car drivers, and helmets for sports and biking/motorcycling. Some plastic is even made fireproof. As I said, plastics do have their place, sometimes.
The book indicates that there are problems with plastic, but not until toward the end of the story. It mentions that animals ingest plastics and that plastics are polluting the ocean. It offers solutions such as recycling and incineration. But as we know, only about 9% of plastics are actually recycled. Incineration pollutes the air with toxic chemicals released from plastics during burning.
Some extra facts were listed at the end of the book. One of them, which I feel should have been at the beginning or in the part about the future, was: “Plastic takes so long to break down that nearly every piece of plastic ever made still exists today.” That’s exactly why we have problems now.
Beach pollution in the Dominican Republic, mostly plastic. Photo by Dustan Woodhouse on Unsplash.
The Bad
Since we have such a problem pollution problem now, authors have the opportunity to teach children to look for alternatives in the future. Unfortunately, the majority of the book promotes plastic as a good resource that we NEED. It explains the different methods of plastic production, and how plastic begins as nurdles, although they didn’t use that term. It did not mention the various chemical compositions of plastic, or that they can be toxic to human health.
For example, the book mentions twice that plastic is better for toys because plastic is safer and more durable. Plastic is not more durable than metal or wood. And safer is not always true. If you compare it to toys made from lead, yes, because lead is highly poisonous. But we also know that chemicals like phthalates and BPA are found in many plastic toys and infant items. There are other chemicals in plastics that we don’t know the long-term effects of yet.
Another example indicates that synthetic clothing is better because it will not shrink like clothes made from natural fibers. True that they may not shrink, but we know that microfibers from washing synthetic clothing are in our rivers, lakes, and oceans. Clothing made from natural fibers is best.
Under a subheading entitled Looking Into the Future: “Most plastics are made from chemicals that come from oil, but oil causes pollution, and it will run out one day. Don’t worry, you won’t have to do without plastic. Future plastics will probably be made from natural materials…” called bioplastics.
If it were that easy, why haven’t we been doing that all along?
The Awful
There were a few parts in this book that I think contain extremely misleading information. One example is that the book suggests that plastic home items, such as doors and windows, are better because they last longer than wood. But sometimes those products contain chemicals such as formaldehyde, PFAS, or other chemicals banned in the State of California under as Proposition 65. That legislation requires labeling of such materials now, thankfully, as they have been tied to several diseases and types of cancer.
Here is another example:
If it weren’t for plastic, you’d have to work a lot harder at home…Modern nonstick saucepans are easier to clean than old iron or enamel pans.
Non-stick pans, particularly Teflon, contained dangerous toxins for decades. Those toxins have been linked to thyroid disorders, chronic kidney disease, liver disease, birth defects, and testicular cancer. Only in recent years has that chemical been removed from Teflon, and I’m not convinced that the replacement chemicals concerning human health have been studied thoroughly. Further, who knows what’s in the non-brand versions of Teflon cookware?
My last example is when the book mentions that credit cards, first issued in the 1950s, are made of plastic. “These plastic cards make it easier for people to buy new products from stores.” Oh my, that is Just. So. Wrong. No, credit cards delude people into buying stuff they don’t need and going into debt. Dave Ramsey and like-minded financial experts would probably drop their jaws if they saw that sentence. I don’t like being so critical, but talk about sending the wrong message to our children!
Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash.
The right messages
Plastic is not evil, but the way we use and waste plastic is evil. If we want to protect our children, our health, and our environment, we’ve got great changes ahead of us to make. So let’s stick to books that teach our children the right messages about health and the environment.
Sea turtles are endangered, which is probably not news to you, but you may not know why they are endangered. They are keystone species, meaning they play a crucial role in the way an ecosystem functions. According to Oceana.org, sea turtles “play an important role in ocean ecosystems by maintaining healthy seagrass beds and coral reefs, providing key habitat for other marine life, helping to balance marine food webs and facilitating nutrient cycling from water to land.”6 I want to help people understand what we can do right NOW to help.
Sea turtles have been on the Earth for at least 110 million years, and maybe as long as 210 million years. Now human activities are to blame for their decline and endangerment. All seven sea turtle species are vulnerable, threatened, or endangered due to human behaviors and activities.7 Following are the biggest threats:
Entanglement and Bycatch
Coastal development
Artificial Light
Coastal Armoring
Plastics
Beach (and Ocean) Litter
Ocean pollution
Climate Change
Poaching and illegal trade of eggs, meat, and shells
Turtle Shell Trade
Let’s examine each of those further.
“A protected green turtle entangled in derelict fishing gear at Pearl and Hermes Atoll. Three green sea turtles were freed during the mission.” Photo by NOAA Photo Library on Flickr (NOAA News 2014 October 28), Creative Commons license (CC BY 2.0).
Entanglement and Bycatch
Entanglement is exactly what it sounds like, that is, entanglement in fishing nets and gear. Up to 40% of all animals caught in fisheries are discarded as waste. Bycatch refers to animals that were not the target catch – for example, dolphins getting caught in tuna nets. “Despite ‘Dolphin Safe Tuna’ labeling, approximately 1000 dolphins die as bycatch in the Eastern Tropical Pacific tuna fishery each year,” according to seeturtles.org. The World Wildlife Fund explains that “modern fishing gear, often undetectable by sight and extremely strong, is very efficient at catching the desired fish species—as well as anything else in its path.”8 Most often the animals die.
There are some protections for certain species, such as the dolphins mentioned above, but it is not a perfect system and the whole industry needs to find more solutions. “Each year hundreds of thousands of adult and immature sea turtles are accidentally captured in fisheries ranging from highly mechanized operations to small-scale fishermen around the world.”9
In the early 1980s, the federal government’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) developed a cagelike trapdoor device that allowed the escape of 97 percent of turtles and zero percent of shrimp. It seemed like a great solution, but it was cumbersome, and shrimpers hated the device and government regulations. NMFS made it voluntary, and only about 2% of shrimp boats participated. In December 1994, twenty-four years after the Kemp’s Ridley Turtle received the endangered status, the federal government finally mandated that all shrimp trawls from the Carolinas to Texas have turtle-escape devices (TEDs). “Not until August 2003 did the federal government require Leatherback-sized turtle-escape devices in shrimp nets along the U.S. East Coast and Gulf of Mexico. That this quarter-century delay was utterly needless would be proven later, when many shrimpers grew devoted to TEDs because of the work they save by keeping not only turtles but a lot of trash and other unwanted things out of the catch.”10
Sustainable, responsible companies that use TEDs are following best practices and have reduced sea turtle deaths.
What can you do? Try to only buy responsibly caught seafood. Inform and encourage your family and friends to purchase seafood only from responsible fisheries.
Photo by NOAA Photo Library on Flickr (NOAA/NMFS/Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center Blog), Creative Commons license (CC BY 2.0).
Coastal Development
Coastal development is exactly what it sounds like. “Half of the world’s population lives on or within 100 miles of a coastline and this number will likely increase dramatically in the next decade.”11 Human presence deters turtles from nesting where they would normally. Additionally, humans create pollution and waste – whether it’s litter or waste-water runoff, light pollution, or danger from vehicles driving on beaches.
What can you do? Whether you’re just vacationing at a beach or residing there, educate yourself about habitats in that area. First, follow the scout rule of “leave it cleaner than you found it.” That means leaving no trace! And pick up after other people too, because it’s the right thing to do.
Second, always limit light on beaches (this will allow you to see the stars, too!). Are there conservation efforts ongoing? Are there laws prohibiting certain practices to protect turtles? If so, make sure you follow the laws or best practices. You’ll be making a difference. If you’re going to live coastal, this is even more important – search the internet for where you live so that you can do the right thing, and be the change.
No laws or conservation efforts where you live? How about starting those efforts? You can partner with a local aquarium; lobby city or town council to get signs posted near the beach access points; even host a local seminar at the library and invite residents!
Turn Off The Lights
As mentioned above, artificial light from human presence is a big problem for turtle nests. Sea turtles depend on a dark and quiet beach for nesting. If there is too much light, turtles will choose a less optimal nest site, which reduces the chances of the baby sea turtles surviving. Also, hatchlings have an instinct that leads them in the brightest direction which is normally moonlight reflecting off of the ocean. Excess lighting from the nearby buildings and streets draws hatchlings toward land instead, where they will likely die from predators, humans, or even swimming pools.
What can you do? Eliminate light whether you’re a property or homeowner, tourist, or beach walker. Make your property low light and encourage others to do the same – especially during nesting season!
If you’re walking on the beach at night, don’t use flashlights and phone lights during nesting season. Download a red flashlight app if you must have some light. If you live in a beach-front residence, turn your lights off. I’ve listed an article about turtle-friendly lighting under Additional Resources.
Here is a video from the Sea Turtle Conservancy about how to eliminate artificial beach lighting:
Coastal Armoring
Beaches are beautiful and the place many people want to be, myself included, someday. Coastal areas are prime real estate and many beaches in the world have been heavily developed. Coastal armoring refers to sea walls and similar structures that protect real estate property, but they are harmful to sea turtles. The Sea Turtle Conservancy explains: “Sea walls directly threaten sea turtles by reducing or degrading suitable nesting habitat. They block turtles from reaching the upper portion of the beach, causing turtles to nest in less-than-optimal nesting areas lower on the beach where their nests are more susceptible to wave action and more likely to be covered with water.”12
What can you do?If you’re a developer or building a home for yourself, please always first check with local legislation. Many coastal places in the United States already have existing legislation sometimes called Coastal Zone Protection, Dune Protection, or Dune Management. You can search the internet for the area you are residing in or visiting for information. If your area of interest has no protections or current legislation, how about proposing it to the local council or government? Please don’t build anything without first doing careful research – there are a ton of organizations out there that can advise or point you in the right direction. Do your homework, and the turtles (as well as other wildlife, humans, and the environment) will reap the benefits. Be the change.
Plastics
Well, this topic is what my blog is all about: plastics and other human-made waste. Hundreds of thousands of marine animals and fish, as well as over 1 million seabirds, die each year from ocean pollution and ingestion or entanglement in marine debris. This includes turtles. Most plastic waste reaches the ocean via rivers, and up to 80% of this waste comes from landfill-bound trash. How does that happen!?!? I’ll get into that in another post.
Plastic bags are a huge factor when it comes to sea turtles. Why? Because turtles eat plastic bags. They mistake them for jellyfish. Many species of turtles do not have taste buds, in case you’re wondering why they can’t tell by taste. See the videos below. The first one shows you the difference between a jellyfish and a plastic bag floating in the water.
The next video shows you turtles eating a jellyfish, to give you visual context.
What can you do? My number one recommendation for the first thing you should change to make a difference: use reusable bags only, and don’t accept plastic bags from anywhere! Getting rid of plastic bags does and will keep making a big difference on so many fronts, so I can’t stress this enough!
After plastic bags, start eliminating all plastics from your life, especially single-use disposable plastics. Recycle, or better yet, don’t buy plastic as much as possible. “Over 1 million marine animals (including mammals, fish, sharks, turtles, and birds) are killed each year due to plastic debris in the ocean. More than 80% of this plastic comes from land. It washes out from our beaches and streets. Plastic travels through storm drains into streams and rivers. It flies away from landfills into our seas. As a result, thousands of sea turtles accidentally swallow these plastics, mistaking them for food.”13
Plastic bag from Walmart lying on the beach. I collected and disposed of it. At high tide that afternoon, it would’ve washed into the ocean and potentially harmed a sea turtle. Photo by Marie Cullis.
Stop using disposable plastic straws and decline them at restaurants. Besides plastic breaking down into smaller pieces and polluting beaches and the ocean, these get stuck in turtles’ nostrils and airways. You don’t need a straw to drink most beverages. If you really must have one, carry a metal or glass straw with you.
Don’t release helium balloons! They burst and fall to the Earth or the sea, and sea turtles mistakenly eat the balloons and die. Or stop using balloons altogether.
“100 Balloons Collected at a Clean-up at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge on the New Jersey coast.” Photo by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Flickr, Creative Commons license (CC BY 2.0).
Beach (and Ocean) Litter
Besides trash flowing into the ocean, litter on beaches prevents hatchlings from reaching the sea.
What can you do? Keep beaches clean. Don’t leave behind litter or beach toys when visiting the beach. I try to leave the beach a little cleaner than I found it, picking up trash that is about to wash into the sea with the changing tides. Participate in beach clean-up events or clean up with your friends or family.
Use coral reef-friendly sunscreen. Many of your average sunscreens have chemicals in them that are not only harmful to the ocean, but also to the human body. Look at the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) Sunscreen Guide (see Additional Resources for the link).
Ocean Pollution
Although trash and plastics are one component, there are many, many other ways in which human activities pollute the ocean. Waste and by-products, like toxic metals, PCBs, petroleum products, agricultural and industrial runoff of contaminants such as fertilizers, chemicals, nutrients, and untreated waste; are all major problems for ocean and land dwellers. These are also causing major human health problems (many major diseases can be tied to these chemicals – again, another topic for another day). Oil companies are a big contributor to pollution, above and beyond oil spills.
What can you do? Buy less and consume less overall. Reduce how much meat you eat and how many animal products you use, because agriculture creates a lot of waste, methane, and chemicals. These chemicals make it into waterways and then the ocean, which poisons wildlife throughout the food chain. Buying from a farmer’s market locally or even growing your own food can reduce the amount of fertilizer and pesticide chemicals that make it into our water (because smaller farms don’t always use such harsh chemicals, and I doubt you do in your own garden). Reduce the chemicals you use in your yard and dispose of others properly through the hazardous waste collection in your area.
Climate Change
Climate change is real and happening, at an accelerated rate, which means many species will not be able to adapt quickly enough. This means the possible extinction of plants and animals and fish that are necessary to Earth’s balance.
What can you do?Reduce how much you drive. Perhaps try carpooling or using mass transportation. Ride a bike. Buy an electric car. Tell the oil companies to go to hell. Reduce the amount of energy you use. Avoid using fossil fuel energy whenever possible. Eat less meat and reduce your water use. Those are the first steps – start there!
Photo by Olga Tsai on Unsplash.
Poaching and Illegal Trade
In some countries, turtle meat and turtle eggs are a food source; in others, turtle eggs are collected by people for income in order to feed their families. Sometimes during nesting season, hunters will watch for nesting females. Once located, they will wait until the female turtle has finished laying her eggs, then kill her for the meat and take the eggs as well.
What can you do? If you travel, don’t buy food or products that use turtle, as that supports the practice. Organizations and governments are educating tourists and local inhabitants about the endangered turtles around the world. You can help by supporting the causes that protect and monitor sea turtle nests. You can help by spreading the information and helping to educate others about the problems. Participate in eco-tourism!
“While poaching, over-exploitation and bycatch are key threats to these ancient reptiles, they are also especially vulnerable to pollution and changes to their habitats, including nesting beaches, where even changes in sand temperature can threaten hatchlings.” -Stephen Larder14
Turtle Shell Trade
This relates to poaching and illegal trade but is specific in regards to products made from turtle shells, aka tortoiseshell; and is usually specific to the Hawksbill sea turtles. The Sea Turtle Conservancy indicates that “scientists estimate that hawksbill populations have declined by 90 percent during the past 100 years.”15 This has been outlawed by CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) which is an international agreement signed by 173 governments. However, the black market demand for turtle shells is still high.
What can you do? Don’t buy items that might be made from turtle shells or other turtle parts (including skin). Of course, those products likely won’t be labeled “turtle shell” or “hawksbill shell” but if you suspect, just say no and walk away. Unfortunately, the alternative is plastic, which I am trying to eliminate from my life. So be more minimalist and don’t buy either! You’ll remember your trip or vacation without a bunch of souvenirs anyway. Here’s a handy infographic put out by Travel For Wildlife to help you avoid turtle shell products:
They also made this very informative video, so please share it on social media with your friends and family!
You can join me in signing the pledge to avoid turtle shells with the See Turtles Organization16. They, too, have wonderful resources about how to identify real turtle shell vs. fake.17 Again, maybe just don’t buy either – it’s not worth the risk!
Adopt-A-Sea Turtle!
You can symbolically adopt a sea turtle or a sea turtle nest. There are many of these, you’ll find many just by searching online but look for a reliable organization. Most of the programs fund education about sea turtle nests, protect nests, and/or track sea turtles.
Photo by Isabella Jusková on Unsplash.
What other ideas do you have? Please feel free to leave a comment or question or idea! Thanks so much for reading. Please share and subscribe!
Our family loves Hilton Head Island (HHI) for a variety of reasons. First, my husband and I got married there. What drew us there before marriage was the island’s dog-friendliness. But then we discovered some other things about the island, besides its natural beauty, cleanliness, and great restaurants.
There are no billboards or neon signs littering the landscape because ordinances keep signs low and unobtrusive. No building can be taller than the trees. Hilton Head also has a sea turtle protection project. The town requires light structures visible from the beach to be covered or turned off between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am during nesting and hatching season, which spans from May through October.
Full rainbow! Panoramic photo with error, by Marie Cullis.
We’ve taken many trips to HHI, including this past weekend, and we had a wonderful and relaxing time. Of course, we saw beautiful sunsets and sunrises. We witnessed a full rainbow, which was my first time seeing one (see my pitiful attempt at a panoramic image above). We saw a stingray trapped in a tidal pool, which was cool to see up close. We alerted someone who was able to move it back to the ocean. And we saw a ghost crab up close – so cool!
Sunset. Photo by Marie Cullis.
Stingray. Photo by Marie Cullis.
Ghost crab. Photo by Marie Cullis.
Sunrise. Photo by Marie Cullis.
A Clean Beach
I mentioned that Hilton Head Island is very clean, especially compared to other beaches we’ve visited. Since we are a family that cleans up litter and trash, we pay attention. So for a clean beach, here’s some of the trash we picked up and posted on the Litterati app:
Seems like a lot, doesn’t it? It wasn’t compared to other litter pick-ups I’ve seen or been involved with. We found straws which I’ve determined to be the evilest single-use disposable plastic thing in use! We found cigarette butts, pieces of Styrofoam, and microplastics. The image of the bag of trash was from a garbage can that blew over during high winds and the trash scattered. We collected all we could but it was far too windy to try and photograph each piece. The contents of it were mainly single-use disposable drink bottles. We found some beach toys, as we usually do. I promise we didn’t take these from someone! They sat abandoned for a long time, and I didn’t want them to wash out to sea during high tide!
Plastic Bag Ban!
On our last evening, we stopped at the ice cream shop. As I was paying, I saw a sign posted by the register, and I think I startled the clerk with my excited reaction!
Plastic bag ban ordinance! Photo by Marie Cullis.
The Town of Hilton Head Island passed this ordinance in January 2018. It does not ban all plastic bags, such as produce and meat bags; however, it is a huge, progressive step in the right direction. Eating my ice cream, I felt inspired – could I get that ordinance passed in my city? What a huge task that would be…but maybe I could do it.
