Fisherman in Cyprus saves turtle in trouble

Video has emerged of a local fisherman in Cyprus removing a plastic ring from a turtle’s neck.

The video was shared on INDICIT Project's Facebook page, a two year EU-funded project (January 2019 – January 2021), "which aims to maintain or achieve the Good Environmental Status (GES) of the marine environment by 2020 with respect to Marine Litter."

The video description reads: "On August 23rd, a turtle was found off the north coast of Cyprus with a plastic ring, possibly from a shampoo bottle or similar, stuck around its neck. Luckily Barış and Barkın Ercantan were on hand to remove the ring and release the turtle back into the sea!"

It appeared that the plastic cap had been stuck on the turtle for a while, as the ring had left a mark around the turtle’s head and throat.

In the video, you can hear the fisherman state that "unfortunately people throw all their trash into the sea", while trying to remove the plastic without hurting the turtle.

When he successfully removed the plastic ring from the turtle’s neck, he happily exclaimed "rescue over" before returning the free turtle into the water and wishing it "goodbye".

The plastic cap appeared to have had been stuck on the turtle for a long time, as the ring had left a mark around the turtle’s neck.

The role of INDICIT is to "develop standardised tools for monitoring the impacts (ingestion and entanglement) of litter on marine fauna as bio-indicators. These indicator taxa include sea turtles, fish, seabirds and cetaceans."

*Watch the video here- INDICIT