Wild Sea Turtle Bycatch and Welfare

Sea turtles are caught incidentally in fishing gear worldwide, causing drowning, injury, and death. Bycatch is one of the primary threats to sea turtle populations and causes significant individual animal suffering.

Key Facts

All seven species of sea turtle are listed as threatened or endangered globally
Longline fishing gear is estimated to hook over 200,000 sea turtles annually worldwide
Trawl nets drown turtles that cannot surface to breathe when entangled
Turtle Excluder Devices fitted to shrimp trawls allow turtles to escape and reduce bycatch by over 90%
Circle hooks and fish rather than squid bait significantly reduce longline turtle bycatch
Sea turtles that survive capture and release may still die from internal injuries days later
Fisheries observer programs that document bycatch are critical for data collection and accountability

Welfare Considerations

Sea turtle bycatch causes suffering that spans from acute injury during capture to prolonged distress during entanglement and drowning. Turtles that survive capture may have sustained internal injuries, swallowed hooks, or experienced hypothermic stunning — conditions that can cause death days or weeks after apparent release. The scale of bycatch mortality — hundreds of thousands of turtles annually — makes this one of the largest sources of human-caused suffering for wild marine reptiles. The solutions are largely technical and already proven: Turtle Excluder Devices, modified hook types, and adjusted fishing practices can dramatically reduce bycatch with minimal impact on target catches. The barrier is primarily economic and regulatory, not technical.

What You Can Do

Choose seafood certified to bycatch-reduction standards such as MSC-certified products
Support policies requiring Turtle Excluder Devices and modified gear in trawl fisheries
Advocate for improved fisheries observer coverage to document and reduce sea turtle bycatch
Support sea turtle conservation organizations working on both bycatch and habitat protection
Learn about the fishing gear types most associated with sea turtle bycatch and avoid those products