Huge Leatherback Turtle Freed From Net Off Gardiner’s Island

A leatherback turtle weighing nearly a half ton was rescued from a fishing net off Gardiners Island on Sunday.

According to Rob DiGiovanni, executive director and senior biologist at the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation, it is not the first time he has been part of a team called to rescue a turtle of this size. The leatherback is the world’s largest species of turtle.

Mr. DiGiovanni estimated the 5-foot-long turtle to be approximately 800 pounds, an average size, he said, although members of the species have been known to grow to between 1,500 and 2,000 pounds. The turtles, which feed on jellyfish, are not strangers to the area: In the past two years, Mr. DiGiovanni said, there have been two similar turtle rescues in local waters.

“Every year we seem to see a couple more animals that are entangled,” Mr. DiGiovanni said.

At about 2 p.m. on Sunday, Coast Guard officials in Montauk called the Riverhead Foundation requesting assistance for the turtle, which was trapped in the net.

“We put together our team and we started to head out that way,” Mr. DiGiovanni said, adding that they arrived by 5 p.m. and took a boat out to Gardiners Bay, where they freed the turtle and watched it swim back out into the bay.

“He swam away and we didn’t see him again,” Mr. DiGiovanni said.

As a marine biologist, Mr. DiGiovanni said, he believes the turtle was not gravely injured. “He might have had some scars from being entangled, but he’s certainly a lot better off than he was when he was entangled,” he said.

Anyone who sees a marine animal in distress is encouraged to call the Riverhead Foundation’s hotline at (631) 369-9829.