Dead sea turtle sliced by boat propeller found in Broward Intracoastal Waterway

During the eight-month season for sea turtle nesting, South Florida sees an influx of marine reptiles arriving on the beaches to lay eggs in the sand.

Less than a week into the season, a fishing charter captain witnessed an unsettling sight in the Intracoastal Waterway — a dead sea turtle apparently slashed by a boat propeller.

Posting to his Instagram account, captain Mark “The Shark” Quartiano chronicled the discovery in an Instagram video. (Warning: Some may find the video unsettling.) Quartiano pulled his boat beside the sea turtle, whose shell was ripped apart and nearly completely destroyed.

“We found this turtle out in the Intracoastal just a little while ago floating,” Quartiano says in the video. “You can see where a propeller from another boat ran over him a couple of days ago looks like.

“Boaters you have to watch out for these turtles. There’s a lot of turtles around right now. Poor turtle didn’t have a chance. Didn’t have a chance at all. Slow down in the Intracoastal. A lot of turtles around and the propeller is the enemy of the turtle. Sad ending.”

Quartiano found the dead sea turtle floating in Pompano Beach, according to CBS Miami.

He later posted a separate video of Fish and Wildlife officials towing the sea turtle out to the ocean.

Sea turtle nesting season started March 1 and runs through Oct. 31. About 90 percent of sea turtle nesting in the United States takes place in Florida, according to the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Beaches from the Space Coast down through South Florida represent the second most important nesting area in the world for loggerhead sea turtles, according to Broward County.

INSTAGRAM: @MARKTHESHARK/COURTESY A sea turtle was found dead in the Intracoastal Waterway after apparently being sliced by a boat propeller.