At the end of April, CCinc received a call about a sea turtle that was entangled in a large amount of fishing line. Once the rescue team was onsite, they established that this sub-adult green sea turtle was not only dragging around 7 pounds of commercial fishing line, but also had rope and line tightly wrapped around its neck. After coordinating with FWC and Brevard Zoo’s Sea Turtle Healing Center (STHC), the green sea turtle, named Vader due to its breathing sounding like Darth Vader, was quickly transported by CCinc to the STHC to have the rope and line removed and wounds treated.
Vader’s story is an excellent, yet terrible reminder that our actions can have potentially devastating consequences on our wildlife, both marine and terrestrial. Unfortunately, this is not a one-off rescue. Sea turtles are found dead or in dire condition due to fishing line and other fishing tackle all the time. And it’s not just sea turtles! Other wildlife, such as birds, manatees, and dolphins are all at risk of being entangled in or strangled by fishing line, which can cut off circulation, causing them to lose limbs, or their life. Luckily, there’s a solution to this problem.
The line wrapped around Vader’s neck was commercial monofilament line, which, when properly disposed of in a monofilament recycling tube, can be recycled and made into other plastic products without the need to produce new plastic. Please remember to properly dispose of your waste so more instances like Vader’s can be avoided. CCinc makes it easy; you can dispose of monofilament, braided line, and any fishing tackle in any of the 44 monofilament recycling tubes which we monitor throughout Indian River County, and we’ll make sure it is properly recycled or disposed of.
After receiving medical care at the STHC for a month and a half, Vader returned home. It’s an event you won’t want to miss, as there may be some special surprises. Hope to see you there!
Permitted by Florida Fish and Wildlife (FWC), CCinc operates the largest sea turtle rescue response team in Indian River County, Florida, documenting over 250 sick, injured, exhausted, and dead sea turtles every year!
You call, CCinc responds! The CCinc rescue team is dedicated to reporting all sick, injured, and dead sea turtles found from Sebastian Inlet to Fort Pierce Inlet. Reports are provided to the County and FWC for long-term studies and improved management and law enforcement. Some turtles may be salvaged for research to learn more about the threats sea turtles face to survive! If you find a sick, injured, or dead sea turtle, or even one that’s stuck somewhere it shouldn’t be, please call the FWC hotline at 1-888-404-3922.
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- Photo by: Kurt Stevens – Vader was found entangled in rope and commercial fishing line in Vero Beach, FL
↩︎ - Photo by: Zach Farnum – Moving Vader from the boat to the dock so they could be put in a car to be transported to Brevard Zoo’s Sea Turtle Healing Center ↩︎
- Photo by: Olivia Redding – The commercial fishing line that Vader was found dragging around with their neck ↩︎
- Photo by: Olivia Redding – Vader with commercial fishing line around their neck ↩︎
