Wild Sea Turtle Bycatch and Welfare

Sea turtles are injured and killed as bycatch in fisheries at alarming rates, causing suffering and threatening multiple species with extinction.

Key Facts

All seven sea turtle species are listed as threatened or endangered primarily due to fisheries bycatch, habitat loss, and hunting
Longline fisheries targeting tuna and swordfish are responsible for the capture of an estimated 200,000 sea turtles annually
Turtles caught on longlines drown if unable to surface, or experience severe stress and injuries from hooks
Circle hooks and fish-based bait rather than squid significantly reduce sea turtle catch rates in longline fisheries
Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) in trawl nets are legally required in some fisheries and dramatically reduce bycatch

Welfare Considerations

Sea turtle bycatch represents one of the most significant marine welfare problems globally. Turtles entangled in nets or hooked on longlines experience drowning, exhaustion, and hook-related injuries. Many that are retrieved alive have sustained injuries from which they cannot recover. The solutions — TEDs, circle hooks, modified gear — exist and are proven, requiring only regulatory will and enforcement to implement at scale.

What You Can Do

Choose seafood certified by schemes that include verified sea turtle bycatch reduction requirements
Support organisations advocating for mandatory TEDs in all trawl fisheries operating in sea turtle habitat
Donate to sea turtle rehabilitation centres that rescue and treat bycatch-injured turtles
Reduce consumption of species from longline fisheries with documented high sea turtle bycatch rates