Marine Turtle Bycatch: Welfare and Conservation

Bycatch in fishing gear is one of the leading causes of mortality and injury in marine turtle populations. Reducing this bycatch has both conservation and welfare significance.

Key Facts

An estimated 250,000 sea turtles are captured as bycatch annually in longline, trawl, and gillnet fisheries
All seven sea turtle species are listed as Vulnerable, Endangered, or Critically Endangered
Loggerhead and leatherback turtles are particularly affected by longline fisheries targeting tuna and swordfish
Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) in trawl nets can reduce turtle bycatch by 97% with minimal fish catch loss
Circle hooks in longlines significantly reduce bycatch compared to J-hooks
Turtles caught in nets can drown within minutes if unable to surface; those alive when discarded often die later

Welfare Considerations

Bycatch causes acute suffering for marine turtles — entanglement causes exhaustion, injuries from gear, and drowning. Turtles caught in longlines may be hooked in the mouth or throat and experience prolonged stress before the line is hauled. Even when discarded alive, turtles with gear entanglement or internal hooks often die shortly after from their injuries. Welfare-conscious fishing practice involves using TEDs and circle hooks, handling incidentally caught turtles carefully, removing hooks where possible, and reporting bycatch to monitoring programmes. Reducing bycatch mortality is also the highest-priority conservation action for several critically endangered turtle populations.

What You Can Do

Choose seafood certified by MSC or similar schemes that include bycatch monitoring and reduction requirements
Support organisations including SEA SHEPHERD and OCEANA campaigning for TED regulations
Advocate for mandatory circle hooks and TEDs across all relevant commercial fisheries
Support sea turtle monitoring and bycatch research programmes
Reduce consumption of species caught using fishing methods with high sea turtle bycatch rates