Wild Sea Turtle Bycatch and Welfare

Sea turtles are among the most frequently bycaught marine animals globally — entanglement in fishing gear causes drowning, injury, and chronic stress for individuals of multiple threatened species.

Key Facts

All seven sea turtle species are listed as Vulnerable, Endangered, or Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List
An estimated 250,000 sea turtles are accidentally caught in fisheries annually worldwide — longlines, trawls, and gillnets are the primary gear types involved
Turtles can drown in minutes if unable to surface — trawl and gillnet bycatch may involve prolonged drowning stress before death
Post-release survival of bycaught turtles depends on the duration of capture, extent of injury, and whether turtle excluder devices (TEDs) are used
Loggerhead turtles in the Atlantic are most affected by longline bycatch; leatherbacks are frequently caught in gillnets along their migration routes
Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) — trapdoor openings in trawl nets — can reduce sea turtle bycatch by over 97% without significantly reducing target catch
Regulations requiring TEDs in shrimp trawls in the USA have prevented an estimated 50,000–100,000 turtle deaths annually

Welfare Considerations

Bycatch drowning is one of the most distressing fates that can befall a sea turtle. These air-breathing reptiles, trapped in nets they cannot escape, experience oxygen deprivation as they struggle and eventually lose consciousness. Turtles that are alive when retrieved may survive if given immediate resuscitation and released promptly, but many sustain injuries — severed flippers, ingested hooks, boat strike wounds — that require long rehabilitation. The welfare case for bycatch reduction is clear and urgent, and the technology (TEDs, circle hooks, net illumination) exists to dramatically reduce the problem — implementation requires regulatory will and fisheries enforcement.

What You Can Do

Choose seafood from fisheries certified to MSC standards or those with documented low bycatch levels
Support organisations campaigning for mandatory TED use in shrimp trawl fisheries internationally — NOAA, Oceana, WWF
Avoid longline-caught tuna and swordfish where sea turtle bycatch is high; choose pole-and-line or troll-caught alternatives
If you find an injured sea turtle on a beach, contact your national sea turtle rescue network immediately — do not attempt to return it to the water
Support sea turtle rehabilitation centres that treat bycatch-injured turtles and release them after recovery
Advocate for international fisheries agreements that include sea turtle bycatch monitoring and reduction commitments
Participate in or support beach monitoring and nesting protection programmes that contribute to population recovery