Fiona the turtle: the plastic leatherback revealing the true cost of ocean pollution

eatherback turtles are truly remarkable.

The largest of all the turtles, and the fastest of all the reptiles, these ocean giants can weigh up to 700kg. They’re also extremely well-travelled.

Western Pacific leatherbacks undertake one of the greatest migrations of any air-breathing marine animal. This epic journey across the Pacific takes 10-12 months, and takes them through the territories of many different countries. Unfortunately, this migration is becoming increasingly fraught with danger, with deadly consequences.

The leatherback crisis

The Western Pacific population of leatherbacks has decreased 80% in just the last three generations, and is now listed as critically endangered. As well as threats on the beaches they use as breeding grounds, a huge hazard to these gentle creatures comes from plastic and ghost fishing gear.

Their migratory route takes them through some of the most intensively fished waters on Earth, as well as the North Pacific garbage patch – the largest accumulation of ocean plastic debris.

Many leatherbacks die from mistaking plastic for their natural prey, jellyfish. Many also find themselves entangled, and suffocate.

Meet Fiona

Fiona is not your usual leatherback turtle. She’s been made entirely from salvaged ghost gear – lost, discarded or otherwise abandoned fishing equipment

To collect the material for Fiona, and other ghost gear sculptures, we teamed up with Surfers Against Sewage. Over one weekend in 2015, 3,000 volunteers removed 150 kilometres of ghost gear from 123 beaches.

The ghost gear problem

Alongside our partners in our Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI), we advocate for best practices to be implemented in the management of fishing gear.

In July 2018, we successfully lobbied the United Nations Food and Agriculture organisation to adopt guidelines for fishing gear to be ID tagged. This enables gear to be traced back to its source, more easily recovered and is an important tool in combatting illegal fishing.

This is a great win for animals like leatherbacks who get entangled in ghost gear. We’re grateful for the support of our GGGI partners in making this happen.