Coastal wildlife stand near synthetic waste items in the water and rocky areas near Princes’ Island.
A marine conservation team patrolling the Princes’ Islands in northwestern Türkiye filmed the seagulls eating styrofoam, exposing the fatal impact of single-use plastics on marine biodiversity.
The Marine Life Conservation Society recorded the incident during a patrol at the Tavşan Island Strict Nature Reserve. One seagull pecked at a styrofoam piece while another carried the debris toward the Princes’ Islands before dropping it. The patrol team then retrieved the material from the water.
The society monitors deep-sea coral populations, specifically gorgonians, clears the abandoned ghost nets and cleans single-use surface waste at this reserve. The society also conducts species tracking in the southern province of Antalya and tracks marine biodiversity under the Blue Atlas Project.
Biologist Ulaşcan Kayataş said the society has conducted biodiversity studies across Türkiye’s seas since 2015. Patrol teams operate for at least five days a week.
“We unfortunately encounter single-use plastic waste accumulating on the sea, primarily PET bottles and the daily garbage used by guests on boat decks,” Kayataş said.
Waste items include napkins, wet wipes, paper towels and helium balloons. These materials originate in the plastics industry and break down upon contact with seawater to form microplastics, entering the food chain and threatening human health in the medium and long term, he said.
Foam boxes and structures enter the sea from construction waste, boat decks or island worksites via wind and rain. Birds and other marine creatures perceive these lightweight materials as prey due to the glare or shadows they cast on the water surface, causing the plastics to enter their digestive systems.
“A bird took a large piece of styrofoam in its mouth and took off to carry it to its nest like prey,” Kayataş said. “It dropped the styrofoam during this process and left it back into the sea. Since we were on the boat, we took the fallen styrofoam piece and removed it from the marine ecosystem.”
This incident serves as a concrete field example of the theoretical problem of creatures eating plastics, Kayataş said, inviting everyone to act more consciously to prevent pollution.
Waste accumulates in port shores, open seas and island bays serving as feeding and breeding grounds, leading to entanglement and choking cases for marine creatures, he said.
