A fisherman in the central province of Binh Dinh Thursday released a rare green sea turtle weighing more than 70 kilograms back into the wild.

Vo Ngoc Thanh, 45, said he caught the animal, officially known as Chelonia mydas, while fishing for shrimp off the coast of Quy Nhon Town.

He said a trader then asked him to sell the turtle at VND1.8 million (US$92) to kill for meat but he refused and phoned Binh Dinh Province’s Department of Aquatic Resources Protection.

After being told that the green sea turtle is listed as an endangered species by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and is protected from exploitation in Vietnam, Thanh returned the animal back to the sea.