Wild Turtle and Tortoise Bycatch Welfare

Sea turtles and freshwater turtles caught incidentally in fishing gear suffer significant welfare harm from drowning, injury and stress, with turtle excluder devices and modified gear offering effective mitigation.

Key Facts

All seven sea turtle species are listed as threatened or endangered on the IUCN Red List
An estimated 250,000 sea turtles are caught as bycatch in longline fisheries annually
Trawl-caught turtles can drown within 7 minutes without surfacing to breathe
Turtle Excluder Devices reduce sea turtle bycatch by 97 percent in shrimp trawl fisheries
Freshwater turtles are also caught in crab pots and fyke nets with significant mortality in some regions

Welfare Considerations

Turtle bycatch causes acute welfare harm through drowning — sea turtles held underwater in nets can survive only minutes before asphyxiation causes brain damage and death. Turtles that survive entanglement may carry rope or hook injuries causing infection and long-term impairment. The solution is well-established: Turtle Excluder Devices fitted to trawl nets allow turtles to escape through a trapdoor while retaining shrimp catch. TEDs are mandatory in US shrimp fisheries but compliance monitoring is imperfect and many importing countries do not require equivalent standards from exporting fleets. Circle hooks in longline fisheries dramatically reduce sea turtle take compared to J-hooks. Technical solutions exist; what is needed is their consistent adoption and enforcement across all fisheries in sea turtle range.

What You Can Do

Choose shrimp and seafood certified from fisheries with verified turtle excluder device compliance
Support campaigns requiring importing countries to enforce equivalent bycatch standards on seafood imports
Donate to sea turtle research and bycatch mitigation programs operating in high-risk fisheries
Report entangled or stranded sea turtles to wildlife authorities or rehabilitation centers immediately