Good deed saves leatherback turtle

By CHARY SOUTHMAYD, Tampa Bay Newspapers, reprinted with permission.
Article published on Wednesday, June 10, 2009

A Coast Guard Auxiliary crew led by Coxswain Don Hoge removes crab line from around a leatherback turtle’s flipper, allowing it to finally swim free.

Talk about being in the right place at the right time.

Suzanne Inzina of Harbor Bluffs and her friends, Briant and Beth Keen, headed out of Clearwater Pass in the Keens’ boat for some grouper fishing May 24 when something caught Briant’s eye. “He told us he thought he saw a turtle caught in a trap,” recalls Inzina.

They immediately turned the boat around to check it out and sure enough, there was a stranded turtle with line from a crab trap wrapped around its left front flipper.

"Freedom” Leatherback turtle

Upon closer examination, Inzina received a second surprise. “I realized it was a leatherback,” she said.

She would know. Inzina volunteered with the sea turtle department at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA) for five years. What was surprising to her is that unlike loggerheads, leatherback turtles are not typically found around here. They are more common to the southeast coast of Florida

“Leatherbacks are pretty rare on the west coast,” said Danielle O’Neil, manager of the sea turtle rehabilitation program at Clearwater Marine Aquarium. “They are deep water foragers, and it’s relatively shallow here ... But, animals are showing up in the weirdest places over the world now.”

As for the leatherback caught up in the line, it needed immediate help. “He couldn’t go anywhere and he was trying to stay submerged, while coming up to breathe,” Inzina said. “When we tried to get close to help, it caused him to panic.”

Fortunately, Inzina still had the number of the CMA in her cell phone, so she called to report the emergency situation. Within minutes she got a call back notifying her that Florida Fish and Wildlife would dispatch a Coast Guard Auxiliary boat from Sand Key to the scene. They reported their boat’s GPS coordinates to assist the rescuers in locating them.

“There was never any question that we would stay and wait for them,” Inzina said.

It’s a good thing they did, according to [Auxiliarist] Don Hoge, coxswain of the Coast Guard Auxiliary crew that arrived not long after. “It was helpful that they stayed because the turtle was caught between the float and the crab trap and kept heading for the bottom. It would have been hard to spot.”

Hoge said the crew was eventually able to snag the line with a hooked pole and bring the leatherback to the surface, close enough to help; but much to the nervous turtle’s dismay. “He was thrashing around a lot and filled my face full of salt water,” Hoge said. “I finally could see which way it was wrapped and got it unwound. He was looking to get out of there and swam right away. I had never seen a leatherback.”

Everyone involved in the rescue agrees it was an experience they won’t soon forget. “It was very rewarding to see a good outcome,” Inzina said. “When he swam away we cheered. The Coast Guard guys were grinning from ear to ear.”

“Yeah, we were happy to save the old creature to be around for awhile,” Hoge said.

~GJA