July 9, 2015 — It should be easy to spot leatherback sea turtles. They can weigh up to 850 pounds and grow up to 8 feet long.
But at sea their slick, black soft shell camouflages them, making them difficult for boaters and fishermen to see.
Each year as many as two dozen of the endangered species wash up along the Massachusetts coast, including a 560-pound, 5-foot-4-inch female adolescent leatherback found recently in Barnstable.
The turtle, which had signs of scarring from entanglement wounds around its hind flippers and evidence of a recent, more severe entanglement around its neck and left front flipper, was taken to the aquarium’s sea turtle hospital in Quincy.
Boat strikes and marine ropes are the most common human causes of leatherback deaths. Moorings and lobster trap lines are also dangerous.
“We want boaters to be aware,” said New England Aquarium spokesman Tony LaCasse.
During July and August, these majestic giants travel up the coast past Cape Cod Bay and the South Shore to the Gulf of Maine.
Read the full story at the Swansea Herald News