It was floating that way.

Can you launch us?

Ocean Explorer was off the coast of western Sumatra at the beginning of a four-month research expedition when...

We spotted a turtle off the bow stuck in a net, and we're going to go try to rescue this turtle and cut it free from the net.

Here we go.

The turtle was tangled in a net from head to tail, particularly around its back flippers.

It only took a moment to cut the turtle loose, but when it was put back into the water, it seemed to struggle to swim.

You swimming?

What kind of turtle did you think it was?

I thought it was a hawksbill, but I'm not an expert, so maybe it's not.

But also it's young.

Hawksbill turtles are a critically endangered species.

It's difficult to get an accurate population count, but various estimates put their numbers below 100,000.

Young turtles are particularly vulnerable to getting snagged in these ghost nets, which is a catch-all term for lost, abandoned, and discarded fishing gear.

After hawksbills hatch, they spend the first few years of their lives drifting along ocean currents in open waters, finding shelter and food on big rafts of seaweed.

Ghost nets also get carried out into open waters.

They can seem to a turtle like an attractive place to shelter and find food.

The animals often end up getting ensnared, and then they drown or slowly starve or suffer life-threatening injuries.

I wonder if it's struggling with its back legs.

They were pretty well tangled.

Maybe we should bring him on board.

Look after him for a while.

Back on the ship in the wet lab, we made the turtle as comfortable as possible with damp cloths, seawater, and dim lights to minimize stress.

Right away, our onboard science team reported the incident to the local government and got on a call with a sea turtle specialist who could help us evaluate the turtle's condition.

I'm so sorry, buddy.

Okay, confirmed juvenile hawksbill.

I mean, it looks pretty healthy.

It just seems a little stressed and tired.

I don't see any visible marks.

Yes, it was a ghost net at the surface.

We can keep it for a little while to see if it'll recuperate a bit, but the best thing to do is to try to re-release it because most often, when they're really stressed out, they will just float on the surface for a while until they get their bearings, and then they dive again.

So should we get a boat driver to get it?

Yeah, let's do it.

The scale of the ghost net problem can seem impossibly huge.

Some 600,000 tons of fishing gear are lost or abandoned every year.

But there is a way forward, and a big part of the solution starts with better baseline knowledge about the problem.

Where are the hotspots for ghost gear?

Where does it originate?

Where does it end up?

Now, we've got one more data point to help move the needle and a second chance for this young hawksbill turtle.

Pull.

There you go.

Yeah, buddy.

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