ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- Rescuers came to the aid of a large leatherback turtle that became entangled in fishing gear this weekend off the southern New Jersey coast.

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The approximately 800-pound turtle was spotted Saturday by a good Samaritan aboard a recreational fishing boat, who notified the Coast Guard and provided them with the GPS coordinates for the turtle's location.

A boat crew from Coast Guard Station Atlantic City took a representative from the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine to a 45-foot Response Boat operated by a crew from the Coast Guard's Cape May station.

That boat soon located and freed the entangled turtle without incident.

 

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