Update Video
WITSAND NEWS AND VIDEO - The rescuing of loggerhead and leatherback turtles are very important but conservationists has become concerned about their safety.
The Two Oceans Aquarium started a turtle rescue road trip especially to inform beachgoers about what to do when you find a turtle that has washed ashore.
Every year, thousands of loggerhead and leatherback turtles hatch on the beaches of northern KwaZulu-Natal.
They head to sea and are carried southward by the warm Agulhas current. Facing high levels of predation and strong currents.
Many hatchlings find themselves off the Cape's south coast- stunned by the cold, weak and often injured.
Many inevitably wash up and are stranded on our beaches.
A team from the aquarium presented an awareness campaign at Witsand on Saturday 3 March.
Witsand was made part of this road trip not because hatchlings wash ashore in this area but because bigger turtles tend to wash up that are either hurt or sick.
Watch a video below:
Sandy, a turtle that was found on the beach at Witsand is a good example.
Sarah Hulse (Lower Breede River Conservancy Trust) found her after she was hit and injured by a boat propeller and washed ashore.
She was hurt very bad and had to go through an intense recovery programme. By now Sandy has healed and is a favourite to visit at the aquarium.
According to Talitha Noble (conservation coordinator) turtles hatch and many do not make it to the ocean.
Hatchlings that wash up are usually very weak and hungry.
The bigger turtles are usually sick or hurt. This is why they drift with a current and eventually wash ashore.
"People sometimes ignore the turtles, others put them back in the water and some even take them home.
"We want to show people how to rescue them. It is important to know what not to and what to do when you rescue them."
Without help, these stranded hatchlings have no chance of survival.
Noble added: "The Two Oceans Aquarium conservation team has a plan: To undertake a 'Turtle Road Trip', visit the locals and communities, from Muizenberg to Plettenberg Bay, most likely to find these stranded turtles, to educate them and equip their communities with network points that are able to care for these hatchlings and to transport them to the Aquarium's turtle rescue, rehab and release centre."
Inge Adams who was an intern at the aquarium but now part of the turtle rescue programme spoke about her experience of caring and releasing the turtles.
Hayley Mc Lellan (environmental campaigner) informed the audience about how much plastic ends up in the ocean.
"People tend to only look at the big problem but there is already micro-plastic in the ocean.
"Small fish eat these small pieces of plastic, bigger fish eat them and in the end, this ends up on our plate."
She warned about the dangers of releasing helium balloons on a string with a celebration.
"These balloons eventually pop and end up in the ocean. There are turtles that had to pass this through their system. It almost cost their life."
She presented many alternatives not only for plastic bags but also for straws and other plastic products.
"Plastic never goes away. The straw that you used years ago is still somewhere. There have already been cases where a straw got stuck in a turtles nostril."
Rethink the bag.org is one of the campaigns that want to make South Africa free from plastic shopping bags.
Want to win some eco-friendly and plastic alternative goodies? Visit our website at www.suidkaapforum.com for more information.
Read a previous article: What the turtle rescue road trip is about
'We bring you the latest Witsand, Hessequa news'
