Sea Turtle Run Over By Boat In Intracoastal Waterway Dies, Boaters Urged To Slow Down

POMPANO BEACH (CBSMiami) - A well known South Florida fishing charter captain made a disturbing discovery while boating with his son Monday afternoon.

"We happened to see a floating turtle in the Intracoastal, floating upside down. Obviously it was run over by a very fast and big propeller motorboat," said Mark the Shark.

They found the dead sea turtle in the waterway in Pompano Beach.

When Mark flipped the turtle over, he saw that most of the turtle's shell was missing.

"The shell was all mangled up and there's hardly any shell left. Apparently the props, maybe one of two props hit the shell. He wasn't able to come down into the water fast enough, a motorboat just went right over the top of him," he said.

It's especially important to keep in mind that there are lots of sea turtles around. Between now and October is sea turtle nesting season. Nearly 90 percent of sea turtle nesting in the US occurs in Florida.

Mark says you have a better chance of seeing them in Intracoastal Waterways at this time of year and its important for boaters to remember this.

"It's very sad to see a nice creature like that, especially dying in that fashion. That thing could be 75 years old and it just, you gotta tell these boaters to slow down. They're going too fast in the Intracoastal," he said.