Three sea turtles have been found entangled off of Cape Cod in the span of just five days.
Most recently, rescue teams from the New England Aquarium, the Center for Coastal Studies and the Barnstable harbormaster’s office came together to disentangle a six-foot-long, 400-pound leatherback.
New England Aquarium research scientist Kara Dodge, who helped rescue this turtle, said it was quite small for its species—leatherback turtles range from 300 to 1,500 pounds.
But even so, she said, hauling the turtle onto an inflatable platform to be disentangled required a lot of people power.
Once the turtle is on the platform, it is usually pretty calm, Dodge said. If the turtle is getting restless, the team will sit back and wait until it is calm again. After disentanglement, rescuers attach a tag for researchers to track the turtle and its behaviors. Then, the turtle is released back into the ocean.
Entanglements are the leading cause of death for sea turtles worldwide, Dodge said. But entanglement does not always have to be a death sentence.
“Three [entanglements] in five days is obviously something that is not great, but the really critical thing here is that people are seeing these animals and reporting them,” she said. “Usually, if they're reported quickly and the entanglement has recently occurred, the prognosis is very good for them surviving.”
Dodge said 60 percent of the reports her team receives about entangled leatherbacks come from recreational boaters.
"These recreational boaters play a really critical role in observing their environment, finding these entanglements quickly, and reporting them to the proper trained responders — and, ideally, standing by the turtle until the trained team can arrive,” Dodge said.
Sea turtle entanglements happen every year in Massachusetts and beyond, Dodge said.
“The entanglements that happen here off Massachusetts are just part of a larger global problem of sea turtle bycatch in fishing gear,” she said. “We're just one piece of that bigger puzzle.”
Dodge encouraged boaters to keep an eye out for entangled turtles. Boaters who see one can report it to the Center for Coastal Studies at 1-800-900-3622.
