Elsa, a large female loggerhead sea turtle, took one final glance before making the journey back into her ocean home. Over 500 smiling faces looked back at her, encouraging her with phrases like “You’ve got it, Elsa! Enjoy eating lots of lobster!”
This is the type of interaction between sea turtles and humans that inspires Loggerhead Marinelife Center to continue creating life-saving treatments and protocols to keep sea turtles and other marine life healthy and safe. Elsa’s journey back into the ocean hasn’t necessarily been an easy one. Last October, an angler at the Juno Beach Pier accidentally hooked Elsa while fishing.
Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence on fishing piers around the country. Every year, more than 250,000 sea turtles are accidentally captured, injured, or killed by United States anglers. Many of these injuries and deaths take place while turtles are migrating through highly fished areas. These occurrences prompted LMC to take action and create the Responsible Pier Initiative.
