Sea turtles are frequently caught as bycatch in fishing operations, causing injury, drowning, and death. Understanding mitigation approaches helps protect these vulnerable species.
Sea turtle bycatch causes significant individual suffering and threatens species survival. Turtles caught in trawls may drown or experience traumatic injury from nets and machinery. Longline-caught turtles sustain hook injuries that can penetrate deeply and cause internal damage. Turtles dragged underwater experience hypoxia and panic. Survivors may carry embedded hooks that cause chronic pain and infection. The overlap of individual welfare harm with species-level conservation crisis makes sea turtle bycatch one of the most important wildlife welfare issues in ocean fisheries.