Small-scale fishing vessels killing thousands of sea turtles

Small-scale fishing vessels killing thousands of sea turtles

Tens of thousands of sea turtles are caught each year by small-scale fishing operations off South America’s Pacific coast, new research shows.

Surveys at 43 harbours in Ecuador, Peru and Chile reveal that gillnet fisheries catch more than 46,000 sea turtles per year, with more than 16,000 killed in the process.

And the true numbers are likely to be higher, as not all ports in each country were surveyed.

Such accidental catching – known as bycatch – is a major threat to species including sea turtles, and the researchers say their findings highlight Ecuador and Peru as key places to tackle the problem.

Professor Brendan Godley, from the University of Exeter, said: “People worry about industrial fisheries but a real concern that people are waking up to is small-scale fisheries.

A leatherback sea turtle
Conservation efforts are continuing to boost sea turtle numbers (Owen Humphreys/PA)

Turtles living in the study area include leatherbacks, which are critically endangered in the east Pacific, and the worldwide critically endangered hawksbills.

Dr Joanna Alfaro, director of Peru-based conservation charity ProDelphinus, said: “This work highlights the importance and the benefits of our approach of engaging with fishers.

“We are actively working with fishers in this region to develop and implement solutions to bycatch – not just to improve the situation for turtles but for the health of fisheries and fish stocks.

“Our goal is to develop fisheries that are sustainable for small-scale fishing communities and the species with which they interact.”

Sea turtle research
Sea turtle research (ProDelphinus/PA)

“We are careful not to overstate threats to wildlife, but in this case it’s clear that tens of thousands of turtles are being caught each year.”

The south-eastern Pacific sustains extensive fisheries that are important sources of food and employment for millions of people.

The study, supported by the UK Government’s Darwin Initiative, was designed to fill data gaps and identify priority areas for future conservation work.

– The paper, Untangling the impacts of nets in the southeastern Pacific: Rapid assessment of marine turtle bycatch to set conservation priorities in small-scale fisheries, is published in the journal Fisheries Research.

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