Sea Turtle Bycatch: Entanglement, Drowning, and Fisheries Reform

All seven sea turtle species are threatened by bycatch in fishing gear. Entanglement causes drowning, physical injury, and death for hundreds of thousands of turtles annually.

Key Facts

An estimated 250,000+ sea turtles are incidentally captured in fishing gear globally each year; actual figures may be significantly higher due to underreporting.
Longline fishing for tuna and swordfish is a major bycatch source; turtles are attracted to bait and become hooked or entangled in branch lines.
Trawl nets used for shrimp and groundfish catch significant numbers of sea turtles; without turtle excluder devices (TEDs), drowning is a common cause of death.
Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) — trapdoors in trawl nets — reduce sea turtle bycatch by 97% with minimal impact on target species catch rates.
Circle hooks used in longlines reduce sea turtle capture rates by 80–90% compared to J-hooks while maintaining or improving target fish catch.
Ghost fishing — abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing gear — continues to entangle and drown sea turtles long after active fishing has ended.

Welfare Considerations

Sea turtles caught in fishing gear experience acute physical trauma (hook wounds, net entanglement injuries) followed by drowning if they cannot surface to breathe — typically within 5–7 minutes of submergence. Turtles that survive capture may have ingested hooks that cause internal injury and infection. Entanglement in abandoned gear causes slow death through starvation and exhaustion as turtles cannot surface or feed. The welfare case for bycatch reduction is direct and urgent. Solutions — TEDs, circle hooks, gear marking for ghost gear retrieval — are technically available and economically viable. The barrier is regulatory and compliance-based rather than technological.

What You Can Do

Choose seafood from fisheries certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) or verified as using TEDs and circle hooks.
Support Oceana, Sea Shepherd, and Turtle Island Restoration Network campaigns for mandatory TED and circle hook adoption.
Advocate for stronger international bycatch reporting requirements and penalties for non-compliance with bycatch reduction gear mandates.
Participate in or support beach and ocean clean-up programmes that retrieve ghost gear from coastal and oceanic environments.
Contact seafood retailers and restaurants about their sourcing policies and requirements for bycatch reduction measures.