Marine Turtle Newsletter 48:29, © 1990
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Marine Turtle Newsletter 48:29, © 1990
A green sea turtle found off Kona encased in tar except for its nose appears to be doing well at Sea Life Park, says National Marine Fisheries Service biologist George Balazs. The six-pound turtle was coated with at least five pounds of tar when the Shadow, a sport fishing boat skippered by Tom Salisbury, spotted it about two miles off Kona on July 13, Balazs said. ...Balazs, who has dealt with all kinds of injured and ill turtles, said this was his first experience with a turtle immobilized by tar, which was like chewing gum. ..."Even now, at Sea Life Park, the story is not really over", he said, noting that the turtle's mouth is black with oil despite swabbing [and] the oil swallowed also could affect the turtle's liver or cause other damage. [Balazs] said the turtle also had plastics - another major threat to marine life - in its system from eating it in the ocean. Source: excerpted from the [Honolulu] Star-Bulletin, 22 July 1989.