Heavy metal monitoring in stranded sea turtles along the Mediterranean coast of Turkey

Abstract

A total of 65 stranded and 2 injured turtles were found in 2001 along the southwestern Mediterranean coast of Turkey during the monitoring program and the majority (n=42) of the stranded ones were loggerhead turtles and the others (n=23) green sea turtles. The main causes of turtle mortalities were fishing-industry related injuries and trawl nets drown. Damages, such as broken carapace shell or cuts from boats as well as other injuries related to fishing industry could be found on 25 of the stranded turtles. The concentrations of Cd, Pb, Fe, Cr, Ni, Se, Sb, As and Cu were measured in tissue samples collected from these stranded loggerhead and green turtles. The levels of essential elements, such as Fe and Cu, were detected to be the highest in most of the specimens. The other heavy metals were found to be present in tissues at important levels and, therefore, more likely to affect the health of these endangered turtle varieties in the Mediterranean.