Wild Sea Turtles and Fishing Gear Entanglement

Sea turtles are air-breathing reptiles that drown when entangled in fishing nets and lines — making fishing gear one of the leading causes of sea turtle mortality worldwide.

Key Facts

All seven sea turtle species are considered threatened or endangered
Entanglement in fishing gear kills an estimated 85,000 sea turtles annually worldwide
Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) allow sea turtles to escape from shrimp trawls
Circle hooks reduce sea turtle bycatch in longline fisheries by up to 90%
Ghost gear — lost or abandoned fishing equipment — continues catching turtles indefinitely

Welfare Considerations

Sea turtles that drown in fishing nets are air-breathing reptiles experiencing asphyxiation — a prolonged death over minutes to hours depending on how long the turtle has been submerged. Turtles that survive entanglement may have flippers amputated from constriction injuries requiring extensive rehabilitation. The welfare scale is enormous — tens of thousands of individual traumatic events annually in species already critically depleted. Turtle Excluder Devices and circle hooks demonstrate that practical solutions exist, yet adoption remains incomplete.

What You Can Do

Choose shrimp from certified TED-compliant fisheries
Advocate for mandatory circle hook requirements in longline fisheries in critical turtle habitat
Support Sea Turtle Conservancy and similar rehabilitation and monitoring programs
Donate to ghost gear removal programs operating in sea turtle range
Report sea turtles entangled in fishing gear to local wildlife authorities immediately