A fisherman who spends at least 250 days of the year out on the water was treated to an “extremely rare” encounter off the Aussie coast over the weekend. Paul Lennon and his charter guests put down their fishing rods in awe on Sunday after they spotted an “absolute beast” causing a raucous in NSW’s Port Stephens Bay.
The 44-year-old and the three other fishers were quite puzzled when they caught a glimpse of what they first thought was a shark’s fin emerging from the water.
But just as quickly as it appeared, the creature then “disappeared”.
“I could see quite a big commotion on the surface,” Paul, the owner of Fish Port Stephens Estuary Charters, told Yahoo News Australia.
“I thought ‘Geez, that’s a big animal’ and it sort of had me a bit baffled there for a while.”
Mysterious creature puzzles fishing charter group
Standing on the boat about 100 metres away, the group watched on as the mysterious figure toyed with their imaginations.
“I thought maybe it was a sunfish, because sunfish occasionally come in the bay, and they’re another really big animal,” Paul recalled.
“It popped its head out for a second and popped back down. I thought it was a seal at that stage — I was really stumped as to what it could be.
“We took a break from fishing for a bit, and just did a bit of watching, observing.”
After catching a few more glimpses, Paul said it became clear the animal was an endangered leatherback turtle.
While the area is “famous” for its loggerhead and green sea turtles, the fisherman, who grew up in the area, said he’s never seen a leatherback roaming around the bay before.
He had previously come across a dead leatherback that washed ashore.
“I’ve lived here my whole life and come from a commercial fishing background. I spend 250 days a year on the water at the moment, and I’ve never seen one alive in Port Stephens in all that time,” he told Yahoo.
“I know people that have, but they’re extremely rare to see in and around here.”
Video footage appeared to show the creature holding something in its mouth, but Paul said he couldn’t get a good enough look to determine what it was, or if the animal was injured.
Leatherback turtles are primarily migratory visitors as Australia no longer has a nesting population. Source: Getty Images
(Getty Images)Fisherman stunned by sheer size of leatherback turtle
Leatherbacks, the largest of the marine turtles, were nationally listed as endangered in 2000.
They are primarily migratory visitors to Australia, and we no longer have a nesting population of the large leatherback turtles.
The majority of leatherbacks seen here are visitors from Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands.
On average, they weigh between 300kg to 500kg, but they can grow even larger.
Paul said he found the species’ size quite shocking.
“You just don’t realise how big they are until you see them in the flesh,” he added, describing the moment as “unreal”.
“Another one to add to the list of amazing encounters. The ocean’s just got that way of surprising you all the time.”
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