Mote Marine Laboratory staff freed a leatherback sea turtle entangled in a crab pot off Lido Key yesterday, April 1, lending a helping hand to Earth’s largest sea turtle species.
Local fishing guide Capt. Brian Martell reported the turtle to Mote’s Marine Operations staff, who oversee the Lab’s research vessels. They alerted Mote’s Stranding Investigations Program — the 24 hour response service for distressed and dead marine mammals and sea turtles in Sarasota and Manatee counties. Staff from both programs set out to help the turtle.
Aboard the Lab’s R/V William R. Mote, they traveled swiftly to the stranding site two miles off Lido Key and saw how serious the entanglement was.
“It was so important that this animal was reported to us,” said Gretchen Lovewell, manager of Mote’s Stranding Investigations Program. “If someone had just cut the line between the turtle and the crab pot, the turtle would’ve died. The line was around its neck, its front and rear flippers, the tip of its shell and its tail. It was a juvenile animal, so it would have grown and the line would have become tighter and tighter.
The team used a circular, floating, research net-pen to cradle the leatherback, which was a juvenile but still massive. They carefully stabilized the turtle, examined the extent of the entanglement and then cut the lines to free it completely. After briefly assessing its health and taking measurements, the team released the turtle.
“Everyone worked together and it was an awesome team effort,” Lovewell said. “It was a special rescue for me because, in 16 years of doing this kind of work, this was the first time I got to help rescue a leatherback.”
Leatherback sea turtles are an endangered species found mainly in the tropical and temperate Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. In Florida, leatherbacks mainly nest on the Atlantic coast but also inhabit the Gulf of Mexico.
Including Wednesday’s turtle, Mote has documented 11 reports of leatherbacks entangled in crab pots since 2003.
Yesterday’s rescue benefited greatly from the R/V William R. Mote, a 39-foot vessel that can travel 54 miles-per-hour and has a 600-mile range. The vessel, named after major benefactor William R. Mote, was donated by Wylie Nagler, owner of Yellowfin Yachts.
“Mr. Nagler and the entire Yellowfin crew worked with Mote’s Marine Operations Division to custom design and build what we consider the best research platform for our scientists working in the Gulf of Mexico, and it is ideal for responding quickly to a large animal offshore like this turtle,” said Capt. Dean Dougherty of Mote. “The vessel has a custom-built tower that optimizes visibility, a crane for scientific equipment deployment and retrieval, and oversized dive doors that facilitate working with large marine animals in and out of the water.”
Report marine animal strandings:
– If you see a stranded, injured or dead dolphin, whale or sea turtle in Sarasota or Manatee County waters, please contact the 24-hour pager for Mote’s Stranding Investigations Program at 941-988-0212.
-If you see a stranded or dead manatee anywhere in state waters or a stranded or dead sea turtle, dolphin or whale outside of Sarasota and Manatee counties, please call the FWC Wildlife Alert hotline at 1 (888) 404-FWCC (3922).
Mote’s Stranding Investigations Program, Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Hospital and Dolphin and Whale Hospital have responded to more than 1,300 sea turtles and more than 675 dolphin and whale strandings of 25 species.
You can donate to support these efforts by visiting www.mote.org/support.