Sea turtles are caught as bycatch in longline, trawl, and gillnet fisheries globally, with drowning and physical trauma causing significant welfare harm and contributing to population declines.
Sea turtle bycatch causes severe welfare harm to individual animals. Turtles caught on longline hooks are suspended underwater for hours, experiencing progressive exhaustion, injury from hook penetration, and hypoxia if unable to surface. Those that survive to boat-side may be discarded alive but suffer from injuries including hook ingestion that impairs feeding long after release. Trawl-caught turtles that drown represent a rapid but preventable death. The cumulative welfare burden across hundreds of thousands of captured turtles annually is enormous. Technology to reduce bycatch exists and has demonstrated effectiveness, making continued high bycatch rates a preventable welfare failure.