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Turtle rescue

The R/V Atlantis crew was working off the Galapagos Islands with the human occupied submersible Alvin, when Captain AD Coburn noticed a yellow object floating approximately 1000 meters off in the distance. After getting permission from the Alvin “top lab” to investigate, the ship steamed over to what turned out to be an illegal fishing long-line, and, tangled within it, was a sea turtle. The crew on board hauled the line and the turtle up on the deck. They carefully but quickly cut away the line wrapped around the turtle’s flipper and neck. The thankful turtle swam away. (Photo by Rod Catanach, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)