Leatherback Turtle

[obrienr]

Hi,

While out paddling at the weekend along the Wexford Coast I found the remains of a Leatherback Turtle, recently washed ashore on an isolated beach. It had been dead at sea for a period of time by the look of it.

It made for a sad sight, and one can only hope to see one alive along our coast at some stage.

Has anyone ever come across a Leatherback while paddling ? Where and when ?

I have some photos(mobile phone) if anyone is interested in such things.

Thanks,
Richard.

[atlantic]

We see them in West Cork , Usually around Late Aug,

[Conal]

There has been a fair bit of research done on Leatherback turtles in irish waters in recent years. Details are in http://www.jellyfish.ie/turtle.asp

Conal

[paulmurphy]

Hi Richard,
I\'d be interested to see the photos if you could pass them on. email is paulmurphy@eireco.ie
Theres been a research project on leatherbacks and all sightings are useful - could you provide date, grid ref etc?
Thanks, Paul

[psweeney]

They are occasionally caught by fishermen tagged and released. The Canadians caught a pile of them and had a race http://www.greatturtlerace.com/ which was sponsored by national geographic and raised awareness of their plight. Their diet is jellyfish however they do ingest floating plastic bags with often fatal results. So if you see those dreaded bags floating retrieve them and dispose of them. Perhaps that was a factor in the death of this one.Post edited by: psweeney, at: 2009/12/05 02:29

[obrienr]

It would appear this turtle was found dead wrapped in a lobster pot \'float/rope\' off Wicklow Head a few weeks before I found it near Ballymoney.

They appear to get themselves tied-up in \'pot\'s at low-water, then drown as the tide floods. There maybe a couple of these cases per year in the Irish Sea.

Its not clear how they get caught.

There are some photos of the Rush Portugese-Man-O-War on www.jellyfish.ie.

Richard.