THE slow and agonising death suffered by a young turtle, suffocated and drowned by a mass of floatsam this week, brought home the need for an international campaign highlighting the dangers of water pollution to marine life.

According to Jennifer Gray of the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo, increased marine pollution has made strandings - animals which become either dead, sick or injured by entanglement - more common.

The turtle was found lying dead and bloated a mile north of Daniel's Head, Wednesday afternoon by Greg Hartley, operator of a helmet diving company, Under Sea Adventures Ltd.

Mr. Hartley found the juvenile's decomposing remains in a body of water referred to as Cow Ground Flat, an area recognised as a haven for turtles. He rescued the dead animal from its grave of plastic strappings and transported it inland, so an autopsy might be conducted by the Bermuda Aquarium Museum & Zoo (BAMZ), to determine its actual cause of death.

"I'd taken people out to our reef (for diving) and was doing a turtle tour on the way back when I saw two back flippers sticking up out of the water," Mr. Hartley said. "His body was swollen and inflated and starting to decompose, so I imagine it'd been out there for at least three days. He was covered in an industrial-type material similar to the plastic straps used to hold huge cardboard cartons together. It was extremely heavy and he was tangled all up in it.

"Once he was caught, it would have been difficult for him to swim and that was the end. I'm guessing, however it happened, it wasn't pleasant for the little guy."

Ms Gray agreed that the animal suffered a terrible ordeal, and then a "slow and agonising death."

"What is likely to have happened, is that the netting drifted into this animal's habitat," she explained. "All he would need, was to get one toe or flipper caught in that and it would become a death trap. Propeller deaths are probably the nastiest deaths for us to view as human beings, but for a turtle, death by entanglement is far worse. First, if (it) is entangled in something that large and that heavy he's (caught between) struggling for air and struggling to the bottom to feed. It's only a matter of time before the stress of exhaustion sets in. It's a slow, agonising death for them. This poor fellow was found with his front flipper bound, his bottom floating out of the water and his head close to the surface, but not close enough to get air. He obviously struggled against the mass (of plastic) because his flipper was worn down to the bone. There's no doubt that he died as a result of being entangled; more likely the cause was drowning than toxins in the blood.

"And, in terms of turtle life, this was a very young turtle. He had a 54-centimetre shell. Turtles, when they are just becoming adults, have shells of 190 to 120 centimetres. So we would call (one of this size), immature or juvenile."

In order to determine exactly where the animal had come from, Ms Gray - who had only conducted a preliminary examination at the time - said more detailed tests would have to be done. And without having seen the material which had entangled the turtle, she declined to comment on whether it may have originated locally or from a passing cargo ship.

"I do know that Bermuda serves as a habitat for animals between the ages of 10 and 40 years. They come for the safety of our waters and when they become adults, leave and go elsewhere.

"It was likely he'd been living in the exact space where he became entangled for ten years or more. In Bermuda, because of our location, we're subject to the world's pollution. Certainly, a large number of animals I deal with, drown (or become) entangled (as a result of) locally-produced ocean pollution, the majority of which are strings or fishing lines.

"If it's cargo netting, it's more likely to be a passing ship. We're now seeing an average of 25 (deaths) per year and certainly, in the last two years, entanglement has been the leading cause. The trend two years prior, was ingestion of plastic."