Marine Turtle Bycatch and Welfare

Marine turtles are accidentally caught in fishing gear across their global range, suffering drowning, injuries, and death in a welfare and conservation crisis affecting all seven species.

Key Facts

All seven marine turtle species are listed as Vulnerable, Endangered, or Critically Endangered
An estimated 250,000 sea turtles are incidentally caught in fishing gear annually worldwide
Turtles caught in gill nets or longlines drown if they cannot reach the surface to breathe
Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) allow turtles to escape trawl nets and are mandatory in some fisheries
Entanglement in ghost fishing gear - lost nets and traps - causes prolonged suffering and death

Welfare Considerations

Marine turtle bycatch causes severe welfare harms. Turtles caught in bottom trawls and gill nets drown as they cannot surface to breathe - a distressing death that may take many minutes. Those that survive entanglement may sustain serious injuries including flipper amputation from net lines that cut into tissue over time. Ghost gear entanglement causes some of the worst welfare outcomes - turtles may remain caught for days or weeks before dying. The welfare case for bycatch reduction is strong and aligns with conservation goals. TEDs, circle hooks on longlines, and LED lighting to deter turtle approach to nets are proven welfare-positive mitigation measures.

What You Can Do

Choose seafood from fisheries certified to avoid sea turtle bycatch
Support campaigns for mandatory Turtle Excluder Device requirements globally
Participate in beach clean-ups to reduce ghost gear and plastic entanglement threats
Report injured or stranded sea turtles to marine wildlife rescue organisations
Support sea turtle conservation and bycatch reduction research organisations