Leatherback sea turtles are found in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. They have the largest geographic range of any reptile 27 degrees South to 70 degrees North. Leatherbacks in Newfoundland and Labrador waters have an average weight of around 360 kilograms but they can grow much larger, to almost 1 ton. Leatherbacks are found in Newfoundland and Labrador waters throughout the summer months and into early fall however sightings occasionally occur in colder months. The northernmost record here is Nain, Labrador. Tagging studies have shown that known leatherbacks in our waters have nested in the Caribbean basin and South America. A female leatherback was discovered entangled in cod gillnets in Placentia Bay in September 1987. A flipper tag showed the animal was tagged 128 days earlier on breeding beach in French Guiana. A second adult female leatherback was discovered at Griquet on the northern peninsula of Newfoundland on October 24 2010. This animal had been flipper tagged the previous year in Costa Rica in the Caribbean at the Pacure Nature Reserve.

    The Whale Release and Strandings records have the earliest sighting a leatherback in our waters off Ferryland lighthouse in 1952.  Records from the Whale Research Group and the Whale Release and Strandings group list 180 individual sightings. 81 leatherbacks have been reported entrapped in fishing gear in NL waters. Our group responds to gear entrapped leatherbacks and provides information to fishers on how to safely release them while entangled. The Whale Release and Strandings Group responds to live and dead stranded leatherbacks to provide safe and proper reentry and collect valuable scientific information from dead animals.