All seven sea turtle species are threatened with extinction, and bycatch in fishing gear - particularly longlines, gillnets, and trawls - kills tens of thousands annually through drowning and physical injury.
Drowning in fishing gear is a terrifying death for air-breathing marine reptiles. Sea turtles caught in nets or entangled in longlines cannot surface to breathe and drown over periods of minutes to hours, depending on water temperature and activity level. Those caught on hooks experience the injury of hook penetration and the fear of confinement before drowning or being hauled aboard. Turtles that survive bycatch capture but are returned alive may still die from injuries, stress-induced immune suppression, or pneumonia from water inhalation. The suffering of individual turtles in bycatch events, multiplied across tens of thousands of animals annually, represents an enormous welfare burden.