Marine scientists are recording details of the largest leatherback turtle to be found in Irish waters when a female of the species was found in Ballycotton Bay off east Cork.
Peter Manning, who owns and skippers Cleona, an angling charter boat, was on his way to Ballycotton Island with Michael Sloan at about 9am yesterday when they spotted the huge leatherback about a mile from shore.
"She was lying flat down with her shell breaking the surface," Mr Manning said. "She was a huge size but we had a punt so we went out and put a rope on her and towed her back to Ballycotton where we contacted the Central Fisheries Office."
The CFO contacted the Coastal and Marine Resource Centre which is attached to University College Cork. Marine biologist Dr Tom Doyle and zoologist Luke Harman travelled from the CMRC base at Haulbowline to examine the leatherback.
"She's certainly the largest leatherback we've ever come across in Irish waters and possibly UK waters too," Dr Doyle said. "From flipper tip to flipper tip, she was 2.5 metres while her shell was 168 centimetres long and she weighed at least half a tonne."
Most leatherback turtles originate in French Guiana and Surinam on the northern coast of South America but travel north during the summer in search of their principal food, jellyfish, when the northern Atlantic waters start to turn warm.
Dr Doyle carried out a postmortem and found a large piece of plastic material in her intestine.
"It's possibly what killed her - it's hard to say for sure. She could have been anything from 20 to 60 years old . . . she appeared otherwise to be in healthy condition with good weight."
After taking DNA samples and details of the turtle's size and weight, Dr Doyle handed over the remains to Ballycotton lifeboat cox Ian Sheridan and crew member Olan Walsh, who brought the turtle three miles offshore where they buried her at sea.
Anyone who sees turtles is asked to contact www.turtle.ie
