Anindilyakwa / Groote Eylandt is a a remote island in the Groote archipelago that lies 50 kilometres off the East coast of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. It is home to magnificent beaches, turquoise waters and the largest Hawksbill and Green sea turtle rookeries in the state. 

But a toxic wave of plastic pollution is threatening to destroy the island's delicate coastal and marine environments. 

Each year, a torrent of ghost nets and discarded fishing gear as well as other consumer plastics wash onto these once-pristine beaches, polluting the cultural lands of the Anindilyakwa People and killing precious marine life and sea birds.

In August 2022, a team of seven Sea Shepherd Marine Debris Crew travelled to Anindilyakwa to join the Anindilyakwa Land and Sea Rangers in the vital work they do to protect Country and remove harmful plastic debris from their coastline. 

Anindilyakwa is an internationally significant site for the nesting of marine turtles, especially the Critically Endangered hawksbill turtle and Endangered green turtle.

Every day during the clean-up, our team was removing dozens of plastic items that all showed signs of turtles having mistaken the plastic for food and ingested it. Ingestion of plastics by turtles can lead to float syndrome and long and painful deaths.

Research shows that a high density of plastic and large objects on nesting sites deter turtles from coming ashore or nesting.

Our crew saw numerous turtle tracks where they had made their way up the beach to nest while negotiating their way around or through plastic on the beach.  Some looked like they had nested while others returned to the water having not laid any eggs potentially due to the amount of debris on the beach.