Wild Marine Turtle Bycatch and Welfare

Sea turtles are accidentally caught in fishing gear in enormous numbers globally. Bycatch is a leading cause of sea turtle mortality with direct and severe welfare consequences.

Key Facts

An estimated 250,000 loggerhead and leatherhead turtles are caught in fishing gear annually
Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) in shrimp trawls reduce sea turtle bycatch by over 97%
Long-line fishing causes hook ingestion and drowning in sea turtles that cannot surface to breathe
Circle hooks significantly reduce sea turtle long-line capture rates compared to J-hooks
Sea turtles can survive bycatch if brought to the surface promptly and resuscitated correctly

Welfare Considerations

Sea turtle bycatch welfare costs include drowning, hook injuries, entanglement-related injuries, and stress from capture. Turtles that drown in trawl nets during extended tow times experience death by asphyxiation. Hook-caught turtles in longline fisheries suffer from esophageal or intestinal injuries from ingested hooks. Observer programs and de-hooking training help fishing crews release captured turtles alive, reducing mortality. The Turtle Excluder Device is one of the most successful welfare-conservation technologies in fisheries management, dramatically reducing bycatch at minimal cost to shrimp catch. Ongoing gear innovation continues to improve bycatch reduction across different fishery types and sea turtle species.

What You Can Do

Choose seafood certified by fisheries that use turtle-safe gear including TEDs and circle hooks
Support Sea Turtle Conservancy and other organizations working on bycatch reduction
Advocate for mandatory TEDs in all shrimp trawl fisheries globally
Learn about sea turtle bycatch data and share it to build consumer awareness