LEGACIES -- SHARRON STEWART: Meet a woman who 
reminds us that keeping our beaches clean is about more 
than aesthetics ... on Passport to Texas Legacies ... 
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Passport to Texas Legacies from Texas Parks and Wildlife

A coastal advocate and educator based in Lake Jackson, 
Sharron Stewart has worked tirelessly to protect coastal 
resources and wildlife, including the Kemp's Ridley Sea 
Turtles.

"Most of the turtles, for example, that wash up on the beach, 
have plastics in their gut. When they get around to having 
the money to do the necropsies to look at the turtles, is it 
the fact that they've been caught in a shrimp net that they're 
dead, or is it the fact that they were dying anyway, or they 
simply died because of all of the plastic that's inside of 
them? You know, they see plastic floating, and they think 
it's jellyfish - the main source of diet for turtles. 
There was a baby pigmy whale that washed up on Matagorda 
Island, and it was necropsied. He cut that pygmy whale open, 
and out pulled a plastic bag from its gut. It's a serious 
problem. Aesthetics are one thing, but survival is another."

That's our show for today ... thank you for joining us ... it 
was produced in cooperation with the Conservation 
History Association of Texas. You can visit them on the 
web at texaslegacy.org. 

For Texas Parks and Wildlife ... I'm Cecilia Nasti.