Sea turtles are accidentally caught in fishing gear at rates that threaten population recovery. Turtle excluder devices and fishing practice modifications significantly reduce this preventable mortality.
Sea turtles caught in fishing gear experience distress and death through drowning - a prolonged process of oxygen deprivation that causes extreme physiological stress. Turtles that survive gear interactions may sustain injuries including hook ingestion, flipper entanglement damage, and internal injuries. The welfare case for bycatch reduction devices is compelling: TEDs in shrimp trawls allow turtles to escape with minimal harm, and circle hooks dramatically reduce longline entanglement. These solutions exist, are effective, and are required in US fisheries - yet international waters remain largely unregulated and many turtle populations continue to face gear bycatch mortality. The global adoption of proven bycatch reduction technology is both a welfare and conservation imperative.