Giant endangered leatherback sea turtle carcass washes ashore in Herzliya

The decayed carcass of a rare leatherback sea turtle washes ashore at central coastal Herzliya, with the cause of death thought to be fishing hooks.

The incident occurred the same morning as a sperm whale washed ashore in southern Israel. They are believed to be unrelated.

Yaniv Levy, director of the Sea Turtle Rescue Center at the Nature and Parks Authority, says, “This is a leatherback sea turtle, a massive marine reptile that is critically endangered worldwide and that does not breed in the Mediterranean. They migrate to us from the Atlantic Ocean.”

He adds, “The documentation suggests the cause of death was entanglement in lines that are an integral part of fishing gear, likely longlines [which carry multiple hooks].

“The most common cause of death for leatherbacks is digestive tract blockages from eating plastic bags and debris, followed by entanglement in fishing gear.”

The last dead leatherback to wash up on Israeli shores was in 2022. Again, the cause was fishing gear.

In 2024, a female leatherback was discovered at Dor Beach in northern Israel. She was brought to the rescue center entangled in fishing gear, with a severed front-left flipper. After receiving medical treatment and having the gear removed from her other flipper, she was released back into the sea by the EcoOcean Association’s “Mediterranean Explorer” research vessel.

Leatherbacks have been documented in Israel only 36 times in 70 years. In most cases, they were dead on arrival.