Endangered leatherback sea turtle dies from propeller strike to head off NC, team says

An endangered leatherback sea turtle was killed by a propeller strike along the North Carolina coast, according to the N.C. State University Center for Marine Sciences and Technology.

“A leatherback was found severely injured by a boat strike, with propeller slices deep into the head and body cavity,” the center reported in a June 1 Facebook post.

“It would have required euthanasia regardless, but it died on its own before a back-up team from CMAST arrived. From the abbreviated postmortem examination on the beach, the male turtle was found to be severely anemic from blood loss from the propeller wounds. Cause of death was head and body trauma with blood loss. ”

The exam discovered the turtle had “a flat piece of hard plastic lodged in the outflow tract of the stomach,” officials said.

It was one of two injured leatherbacks researchers found as they captured and tagged the massive turtles off Cape Lookout for migration tracking.

The second turtle “had a large healing wound on the right side of its carapace (upper shell), likely a result of blunt force trauma from a boat prow,” officials said.

Adult leatherbacks average 750 to 1,000 pounds and 6 feet in length, making them the world’s largest turtle, NOAA Fisheries reports. The species is “highly migratory” with some turtles traveling more than 10,000 miles a year, experts say.

“It is estimated that the global population has declined 40 percent over the past three generations,” NOAA Fisheries reports.

North Carolina’s coast is among sites where leatherbacks like to nest.

The N.C. State Center for Marine Sciences is working with NOAA sea turtle biologists on a project to fit leatherbacks with satellite tracking tags, officials said.

“On their springtime migration, leatherbacks congregate south of Shackleford Banks, feeding on cannonball jellies and working their way around the cape to continue northward,” the center reported.

“They must be caught at sea, which is accomplished by the use of a spotter plane, a rigid hull inflatable boat with a bow pulpit, a hoop net, a small inflatable flat platform raft, and a crew willing to get wet.”

Cape Lookout National Seashore, which includes the Shackleford Banks, reported May 31 a leatherback came ashore and nested on one of its beaches. It is believed to be the first leatherback nesting this year in N.C., the park said.

This story was originally published June 2, 2023 at 2:09 PM with the headline "Endangered leatherback sea turtle dies from propeller strike to head off NC, team says."