Sea Turtle Bycatch in Fishing Gear: Scale and Solutions

Sea turtles are air-breathing reptiles that drown when caught in fishing gear, and bycatch in longlines, trawls and gillnets remains one of the most significant threats to global sea turtle populations, causing suffering and death on a massive scale.

Key Facts

An estimated 250,000 sea turtles are accidentally caught in fishing gear each year globally
All seven sea turtle species are listed as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered
Longline fisheries targeting tuna and swordfish catch loggerhead and leatherback turtles at very high rates
Gillnets are the leading cause of sea turtle bycatch globally by number of animals
Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) in trawl nets reduce bycatch by up to 97% and are mandatory in some fisheries
Circle hooks and fish bait instead of squid in longlines reduce sea turtle hooking rates substantially
Post-release survival rates for entangled and drowned turtles depend on entanglement duration and injury severity
Certification schemes such as MSC require fisheries to demonstrate low bycatch rates including for sea turtles

Welfare Considerations

Sea turtles entangled in fishing gear experience acute panic responses and struggle to surface for air, drowning within minutes to hours depending on conditions. Those that survive entanglement often carry hook injuries in the oesophagus, flipper wounds from line entanglement and compression injuries from net entanglement. Post-release survival is uncertain. The scale of bycatch means hundreds of thousands of individual turtles experience these welfare impacts annually. The existence of proven bycatch reduction technologies such as TEDs and circle hooks makes the continued high bycatch rates in many fisheries an avoidable welfare failure.

What You Can Do

Choose seafood with MSC or equivalent certification that requires bycatch monitoring and reduction
Support mandatory TED requirements in trawl fisheries in your country and internationally
Advocate for circle hook requirements in longline fisheries targeting species in sea turtle habitat
Support sea turtle rescue and rehabilitation programmes that treat bycatch survivors
Raise awareness about the bycatch problem and consumer seafood choices through social media
Donate to organisations working on bycatch reduction technology and fisheries policy advocacy