Royal Navy: Sailors aboard Portsmouth destroyer HMS Dauntless save turtles from harm in Curaçao

HMS Dauntless crews have being helping save sea turtles from life-threatening hazards in the Caribbean. Pictured: Turtle of Curacao. Picture: LPhot Gareth Smith/Royal Navy.

Fifty crew members on HMS Dauntless volunteered with Sea Turtle Conservation Curaçao during a logistics stop at the Dutch island this week. They helped clear more than 200kg of ocean plastic from a nesting beach and carried out medical checks on the turtle population.

Able Seaman Megan Page, from the Royal Navy’s Hydrography and Meteorology Branch, was among the volunteers. She said: “The environment is very important to the Royal Navy and, with the growing impact of climate change, we are here today to conduct a beach clean-up.

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“It is important to be able to work with local organisations as part of this deployment to understand the challenges faced by marine life and support where we can.” Sea turtles are prone to mistaking plastic debris for food, leading to ingestion and internal injuries which can be fatal.

The gentle marine animals can also be entangled in discarded fishing nets and other plastic waste, which are life-threatening hazards. Ard Vreugdenhil, the field co-ordinator for Sea Turtle Conservation Curaçao, said: “I am very happy people are more and more aware of the care we need to have for the world we are living in. We have to spread the word and be an example.

“It is good to show this example of collaboration and taking responsibility and hopefully we can continue the partnership between the Royal Navy and Sea Turtle Conservation Curaçao. Nature deserves our helping hand and we have to reconnect with the world we are living in.

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Pictured: Ship's Company of HMS DAUNTLESS rescuing a Turtle in Curacao. Picture: LPhot Gareth Smith/Royal Navy.

"Together we are the example for others and have the power needed to make a difference.” HMS Dauntless is currently deployed in the Caribbean to combat drug smuggling in the region.

Working alongside the US Navy, crews will also be supporting British Overseas Territories during hurricane season, which lasts from June to November. The navy is supporting Sea Turtle Conservation Curaçao in a joint effort to raise awareness about the urgent need to combat ocean plastics and safeguard the biodiversity of the world’s oceans.

HMS Dauntless, a Type 45 destroyer, recently carried out a huge military exercise in Colombia.