A salmon troller saw a leatherback turtle in the summer of 2015.
Observation: I spoke with a salmon troller who saw a leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) in the summer of 2015. He recently gave me the date of the sighting and the coordinates. Leatherback turtles are known to be in this area, but it is a rare sighting.
Resource:
Alaska Department of Fish & Game – "Feeding Ecology - Leatherback sea turtles feed on soft-bodied pelagic prey including salps and jellyfish. Their mouths are specially adapted to this diet. They have pointed cusps and sharp-edged jaws. They also have backward-pointing spines in their mouth and throat to help retain their prey. It is thought that they may dive to the deep scattering layer to feed on jellyfish or dive to feed on vertically migrating species. They will sometimes eat fish or seaweed." Source: ADF&G Species Profile
National Marine Fishiers Service – "Leatherbacks are commonly known as pelagic (open ocean) animals, but they also forage in coastal waters. In fact, leatherbacks are the most migratory and wide ranging of sea turtle species. The global population of leatherbacks comprises seven biologically and geographically subpopulations, which are located in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Ocean. The western Pacific leatherbacks engage in one of the greatest migrations of any air-breathing aquatic marine vertebrate, swimming from tropical nesting beaches in the western Pacific (primarily Papua Barat, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands) to foraging grounds in the neritic eastern North Pacific. The nearly 7000-mile trans-Pacific journey through exclusive economic zones of multiple Pacific nations and international water requires10-12 months to complete." Source: NOAA Fisheries' Species in the Spotlight: Pacific Leatherback
Observations From Members 
