Yesterday while snorkeling, Alice and I came a cross one of the local little turtles:

What wasn't evident yet was the fact that this gal had a fish hook well embedded in her left front flipper on the leading edge. I noticed that she would swim kind of strange and immobilize this flipper. I dove down and saw a rubber band and fish hook hanging below her flipper and the second hook was attached to these with some leader. My primary concern was the loose and free hook which she was dragging along. Should it get caught in coral it could keep her from surfacing to breath.

I went ashore and grabbed some fishing pliers which have a side mounted line cutter and came back out to see if I could get this mess off of her. She settled under a coral head with the hooked flipper out and partially exposed. The hook in the flipper was visible but the rest was under her flipper in the sand. I dove down and grabbed the "set" hook with the pliers and tried to pull it free but the darn barb held. This didn't make the turtle one bit happy but yet she didn't attempt to get away from me with any effort and I was able to slowly swim next to her while trying to come up with a solution.

I realized I needed some better cutters which would allow a quick cut of the embedded hook at the surface of the flipper.

I went home and this AM made a few phone calls seeking some advice if not actual help. With the turtles protected as they are, unfortunately those who have been granted some ability to rescue sea turtles don't have the latitude to deal with a situation like this.

I grabbed a pair of Felco cable cutters which I knew were more than up to cutting the hook and went to the beach today hoping that I might encounter the turtle again. I figured the solution would require someone catching the turtle and holding it still while another held the flipper firm and cut the hook. It is against the law to harass the turtles or endanger them. This was likely thin ice but the hell with it!

Alice and I went out on the reef and I started asking snorkelers if they had seen a small turtle. The first couple had said no. We came across two guys snorkeling and when I asked them if they had seen a small turtle they said yes, they were over one at the moment but that this one had a fishhook stuck in it! Cool!! It turned out that one of them had gone into the beach and grabbed a pair of scissors with the idea of at least cutting free the loose hook. They had been unable to cut the leader and had dropped the scissors down on the reef. I went down and got their scissors and explained my idea of immobilizing the turtle to allow someone to cut the hook close to the flipper. They were game to help. I didn't want to damage the cutters in the salt water unless I had found the turtle so I went back to the beach for the cutters and returned. With a few false attempts due to a turtle not being in the mood to be held, I figured out how to hold the turtle in such a manner that it could neither escape or bring my hand into proximity with that loose and nasty hook. I should mention that while this process was under way the turtle caught the reef a couple times with the loose hook but was able to free itself up. It had learned how to put slack in the line and free up the hook. How many times had the poor turtle hung up in the last 24 hours!

At any rate, I got a firm hold of the turtle and brought it to the surface where one of the guys took the cutters in one hand and held the flipper with the other. In less than 30 seconds, he had cut the hook cleanly and I released the turtle. I don't know how much trauma the poor turtle suffered but it was comfortable enough to stay in the area and I swam up close to it to have it see that I was not going to restrain it again. I suspect that it has suffered more human intervention from other snorkelers who know no better. Alice, I and the other two guys were real happy with the fact that we had freed this turtle from the hooks and leader. The hooks and leader were taken to shore where close inspection revealed that the leader was plastic coated wire. This explained why the scissors had not been able to cut it.

In the pic below, you can see the rubber band sticking out from under the flipper:

Here is an out of focus shot of the crap hanging down:

The cut hook is at the bottom of my hand and you can see the rubber band on it (probably to hold the bait in place?)

It is not uncommon to see broken and snagged fishing leaders on the reef and I don't know if this turtle picked up this mess from the reef or was snagged by a fisherman. After the hook removal, I took a parting photo:

I hope what is left of the hook in this guys flipper doesn't cause any harm or infection. I had first considered cutting the hook at the eye and using some pliers to force the hook through the flipper to get the barb to surface and then pull it free. I was advised by a person I spoke on the phone to that they felt this would cause more harm than good so we didn't go that route.

I hope to see this turtle again and watch it grow!