The Washed Ashore: Art to Save the Sea exhibit, presented by Dar Stumpf & Clyde Reed, is making a splash at the Garden this summer! These nine impressive sculptures are made entirely of plastic debris collected on Oregon’s Pacific shoreline, and assembled by a team of talented artists and volunteers with the Washed Ashore Project.
However, these animal advocates are more than just eye-catching sculptures to decorate the Garden – each one of them has a unique connection to plastic pollution, and their stories illustrate how greatly this debris impacts marine food chains, the ocean’s ecosystem, and waterways across the country.
Edward the Leatherback Turtle
You can find Edward (and his jellyfish snack) floating around right outside the overall entrance area to the Bell Children’s Garden. Edward is a life-size sculpture of a leatherback sea turtle, which can grow to be over six feet long and weight up to two tons!1 Sadly, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service considers leatherback turtles an endangered species, with a population decrease between 80-97% over the past three generations.1
Plastic pollution primarily affects sea turtles – like the leatherback turtle – in two ways: through entrapment and ingestion. Turtles can get caught in net-like marine debris, such as six-pack soda rings and discarded fishing gear, which restricts their movement. “If they’re entangled in a net or stray plastic,” says Brad Parks, Conservation Education Director for Washed Ashore, “they can’t come up for air and will drown.”
Additionally, some marine debris can look like a tasty treat for turtles. “Many species of sea turtles are omnivorous, and will not only eat the vegetation and sea grass, but also feed on jellies,” says Parks. Unfortunately, turtles often mistake things like plastic bags for jellyfish, and ingest them – if you take a peek, you can see part of a plastic bag in Edward’s mouth. Because plastic takes so long to naturally break down, it won’t degrade in turtles’ stomachs, leading to issues like intestinal damage or blockage, starvation, or illness.2
Marigold the Sea Jelly
Marigold isn’t located too far from Edward, hiding underneath the Lodge Shelter near the Bell Children’s Garden! This golden jelly – mostly made of water bottles, nylon rope, and buoys – stretches from floor to ceiling, and is truly a sight to behold.
In addition to having plastic-bag-impostors that turtles end up eating, jellyfish are impacted by plastic in other ways as well. Recent studies have shown that many types of jellyfish end up consuming microplastics (which are very tiny plastic particles). They do this either through filter-feeding (which is how larger species filter nutrients or tiny organisms like plankton from the water) or by eating smaller organisms that already have microplastics inside of them.3
Microplastics don’t break down easily in animals’ stomachs. This means that if a larger animal consumes a smaller animal that’s already ingested microplastics, those microplastics will remain in the predator’s body even after the prey passes through. These microplastics will travel all the way up the food chain – affecting not only plankton, jellyfish, and sea turtles, but also everything that feeds on these creatures – like birds, sharks, whales, crabs, and (if we go far enough along in the food chain) even humans.
Clementine the Sea Star
If you’re enjoying lunch on our Thome Patio, you’ll be joined by Clementine! Clementine is an ochre sea star, made of dozens of shades of orange plastic – though she didn’t always look like this!
When the Washed Ashore exhibit visited the Garden in 2021, the sea star had a more patriotic color palette. “This creature was made for the Texas State Fair in his red, white, and blue to help think about pollution around 4th of July,” explains Parks. “While that was a really awesome message, our team decided to give it a refresh and make it look like an actual sea star you find on the Oregon coast.”
Though she may appear unassuming, Clementine and other starfish are considered predators in the sea, feeding on smaller ocean creatures like barnacles and mussels. If you look closely, you can see some marine invertebrates surrounding Clementine on her rock!
Unfortunately, this leads to a similar phenomenon that we see in jellyfish like Marigold – when these filter-feeding organisms accidentally consume microplastics, they end up passing the plastic along to sea stars like Clementine, along with all of the issues caused by ingesting microplastics.
Local Impacts
Our oceans don’t have walls – and neither do food chains. Even though the Washed Ashore sculptures are made of marine debris collected in Oregon, the impacts of plastic pollution can be felt nationwide. Ocean currents can carry marine debris into our Great Lakes, contaminating our lakes, rivers, and streams and affecting our wildlife in similar ways – and vice versa! Additionally, if you enjoy an occasional seafood dinner, you might be dining on microplastics that have ended up in fish, crab, or other creatures.
What can you do to help prevent plastic pollution and microplastics from affecting wildlife? According to educators with the Washed Ashore Project, the #1 way to prevent plastic pollution in our oceans is to lessen the amount of plastic we use on land.
- Don’t use plastic bags at the grocery store, bring reusable ones.
- Instead of using synthetic fabrics that leech microplastics, opt for natural fibers like cotton.
- If you do use plastic products (because sometimes it’s unavoidable), make sure you’re disposing of plastic properly so it doesn’t end up polluting the environment.
Our animal advocates need your help! Take the first step in reducing your plastic footprint today. For more information, check out these educational materials from the Washed Ashore Project.
Sources
- “The Leatherback Sea Turtle.” National Parks Service, February 18, 2025. https://www.nps.gov/pais/learn/nature/leatherback.htm#:~:text=Leatherbacks%20are%20the%20largest%20sea,weigh%20up%20to%202%2C000%20pounds!
- “Sea Turtles and Plastic Pollution – the State of the World’s Sea Turtles: SWOT.” The State of the World’s Sea Turtles | SWOT. Accessed June 16, 2025. https://www.seaturtlestatus.org/sea-turtles-plastic-pollution.
- “Jellyfish Dining out on Diet of Microplastic Pollution.” CQUniversity, November 11, 2021. https://www.cqu.edu.au/news/708171/jellyfish-dining-out-on-diet-of-microplastic-pollution.
