HMS Dauntless sailors help save turtles in the Caribbean during one-tonne clean-up

Royal Navy sailors from HMS Dauntless cleaned over 200 kg of dangerous plastic waste from a turtle nesting site on Curaçao Island in the Caribbean.

Fifty sailors from HMS Dauntless volunteered for the clean-up efforts, joining forces with the volunteer organisation Sea Turtle Conservation Curaçao.

Together, they worked to remove plastic debris from a nesting beach, as well as carry out medical checks on the turtles.

• Royal Navy's most advanced destroyer returns to full frontline duties
• Royal Navy's greenest ship HMS Tamar protects paradise in rare visit to UK's Indian Ocean territory
• Turtle numbers around Armed Forces bases in Cyprus hit record high

Portsmouth-based HMS Dauntless is deployed to the Caribbean to work with the US Coast Guard to help stop drug smugglers and provide support to the British Overseas Territories during hurricane season from June to November.

The Type 45 Destroyer was on a logistics stop on the Dutch island when the sailors volunteered with the conservation group.

Among the volunteers was Able Seaman Megan Page, from the Royal Navy's Hydrography and Meteorology Branch, 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," she said.

"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," she continued.

Fishing nets and other plastic debris in the world's oceans can be deadly for turtles – they get tangled in the former and mistake the latter for food.

The beach clean formed part of the 'One Tonne Challenge', an environmental drive with the aim of collecting one tonne of litter and debris from each collection area.

Dr Imogen Napper, a marine scientist specialising in plastic pollution, also a Royal Naval Reservist and project lead for the One Tonne Challenge, said: "Whether in Curaçao, home or abroad, environmental changes affect us all.

"The ship's company from Dauntless have shown this by volunteering their own personal time on a deployment and removing litter from a key turtle nesting site, helping support turtle conservation within the area."

HMS Dauntless will proceed with her patrol, working to combat the narcotics trade in the region and offering support during the hurricane season.