Pollution is the major cause of death for sea turtles in local waters, but Bermuda is leading the way in protecting the animals, a visiting expert said yesterday.

Peter Meylan, a biology professor, was on the island with marine science students from Eckard College in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The group spent two weeks on the island working on the Bermuda Turtle Project.

In addition to capturing and tagging green sea turtles, the students also dissected turtles that washed up dead onto local shores.

Dr. Meylan, who is also a scientific advisor to the project, explained that the students received valuable "hands-on'' experience.

"It's a slightly different experience for the students to look at the dead turtles and determine their cause of death,'' he said.

On average around five turtles wash up dead on Bermuda shores each year.

And the majority of the deaths are caused when the turtles eat plastic and tar.

"Pollution is a major problem here,'' he said.

Beyond the turtle deaths due to tar and plastic flotsam, Dr. Meylan said Bermudians should be concerned about the effect debris has on the tourist trade.

"The ocean is not a huge trash can,'' he added. "Pollution does affect the marine environment, and that includes the beaches that draw tourists.'' The project's main focus is to tag and track turtles, although the information gathered from the dissection is also studied.

Dr. Meylan said that turtle tagging has been going on in Bermuda for almost 30 years.

Although the tagging project was run privately for a number of years, the Bermuda Aquarium has been in charge of the project since 1968.

He said sea turtles no longer nested or hatched in Bermuda because they were "eaten to extinction'' prior to the Second World War. However, there are a large number of green turtles who spend their `adolescence' in local waters.

One turtle captured at the weekend was originally tagged more than 12 years ago.

Dr. Meylan said: "It's the longest residency time that we've known of.'' And he said the tagging project gave researchers a better understanding of sea turtle behaviour, including their place of birth and where they went after reaching maturity in Bermuda.

"More than half of the turtles that grow up in Bermuda were born in Costa Rica,'' he added.

"There is also a large number from Florida and Mexico. There's even the occasional one from West Africa.'' Dr. Meylan explained that baby turtles do not swim all the way to Bermuda.

They drift into the Gulf Stream on clumps of seaweed, which also served as a source of food.

Although Bermudian law protects the turtles during their formative years, they are less likely to survive their adult years if they travel and live in the waters near Nicaragua, Panama, or Cuba.

"The Caribbean Conservation Corporation has been working to make the Caribbean countries -- especially those that still harvest turtles -- understand their shared responsibility,'' Dr. Meylan continued.

"Although the young turtles are protected in Bermuda, it's the reproductive adults that are getting killed in the Caribbean.

"Bermuda sets the standard as a place where turtles are protected, and should be held up as an example of where things are done right for the protection of sea turtles.''