A large sea turtle entangled in fishing line and entangled in plastic was rescued off Delimara on Friday. The turtle swam up to Miguel Caruana when he was out fishing with friends some six miles off the island.

“It swam to the surface at a distance, but we could not tell it was in distress. After some 10 minutes it swam towards me, just as a cat would, as if it was pleading for help,” Mr Caruana said.

“We realised its hind feet were wrapped in fishing line and plastic was stuck to her belly. It had scraped its belly, and I don’t know how it could still swim. It was suffering.”

The turtle was taken on board and the fishing line was removed before it was released back in the sea.

Just last week, a leatherback turtle was towed in by the Armed Forces of Malta after it died from an infection, probably triggered by plastic in its intestines. Environmental groups often warn against the throwing of plastic in the sea as turtles might feed on the material which they mistake for jellyfish.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.