Threat Series: Fisheries Bycatch

 

By NICOLAS PILCHER

Editors’ Note: Over our 15-year history, SWOT has published a plethora of articles that remain highly relevant, even as the issues surrounding sea turtles evolve. We have asked a team of experts to help us curate an online series that revisits some of these evergreen articles by theme. We invited our old friend and long-time SWOT contributor, Nicolas Pilcher, to be the “expert curator” for the first in this series, focusing on the issue of fisheries bycatch.

Fisherman Jesus “Chuy” Lucero leads sea turtle monitoring efforts in Baja California, Mexico. © Brian J. Hutchinson

Fisherman Jesus “Chuy” Lucero leads sea turtle monitoring efforts in Baja California, Mexico. © Brian J. Hutchinson

Fisheries bycatch is one of the greatest threats to sea turtles worldwide, and yet it is a threat that remains vastly underreported, poorly quantified, and minimally addressed outside of a handful of commercial shrimp trawl and long-line fisheries. Our global turtle conservation community has known this all along, of course, and has been working diligently around the world to understand and quantify bycatch, set and enforce limits, and find solutions that work for the many stakeholders involved.

Most of us are now locked-down, staying home, trying to stop the spread of a deadly virus. While some are faced with pressing financial, health, and lifestyle challenges, many of us also find ourselves with a bit more time on our hands to reflect, to be analytical, and to plan for the future. My humble suggestion is that we use this period as an opportunity to prepare to tackle the threats to sea turtles with renewed vigour when the time comes, starting with a call to revolutionise the way the world’s fisheries operate.

Having been involved with SWOT Report since day one (2004), I have read, contributed to, and enjoyed the report’s consistent coverage of fisheries issues over the years. As thought fodder to our future work on this most important of sea turtle conservation issues, it is my pleasure to share the following selection of past articles related to the theme of fisheries impacts, bycatch, and more.

Here’s hoping that in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic we will have the resources and wherewithal to press for greater, further-reaching, and more effective bycatch reduction efforts – not just for turtles, but for all the species that are collateral victims of fishing.

Stay safe, one and all,

Nicolas Pilcher

Guest Online Curator
SWOT Report

SWOT Report Articles Related to Fisheries Bycatch

  1. Hall, M. 2006. Increasing Fishers' Awareness Leads to Decrease in Turtle Bycatch. In SWOT Report— The State of the World’s Sea Turtles, vol. 1: 27.

  2. Steiner, T. 2006. Seafood Diet for a Small Planet. In SWOT Report— The State of the World’s Sea Turtles, vol. 1: 26.

  3. SWOT Editors. 2006. New Deep-Set Longline Is Smart Gear. In SWOT Report— The State of the World’s Sea Turtles, vol. 1: 25.

  4. Peckham, H., Laudino Santillán, J., & Nichols, W. J. 2007. Baja: Fishers Work to Conserve Loggerhead Foraging Grounds. In SWOT Report— The State of the World’s Sea Turtles, vol. 2: 17.

  5. Eckert, S. 2007. The Net Gain of working with Fishers to Reduce Bycatch. In SWOT Report— The State of the World’s Sea Turtles, vol. 2: 34.

  6. Drews, C. 2008. Progress Report: Fishers Reduce Bycatch in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. In SWOT Report— The State of the World’s Sea Turtles, vol. 3: 34.

  7. Howell, E., Kobayashi, D., Parker, D., Balazs, G., & Polovina, J. 2009. TurtleWatch - Turtle Watch Minimises Clashes between Loggerheads and Longliners. In SWOT Report— The State of the World’s Sea Turtles, vol. 4: 36-37.

  8. Gunn, R., & Veenstra, T. 2009. Ghost Nets. In SWOT Report— The State of the World’s Sea Turtles, vol. 4: 31-33.

  9. Pilcher, N. J., & Robins, C. 2010. Trials and Tribulations of Turtle Excluder Devices. In SWOT Report— The State of the World’s Sea Turtles, vol. 5: 18-21.

  10. Alfaro-Shigueto, J., & Mangel, J. C. 2012. Two-Way Radios Save Turtles and Help Peruvian Fishermen. In SWOT Report— The State of the World’s Sea Turtles, vol. 7: 15.

  11. Bourjea, J., Dalleau, M., & Ciccione, S. 2012. Revealing the Secrets of Sea Turtle Migration in the Southwest Indian Ocean. In SWOT Report— The State of the World’s Sea Turtles, vol. 7: 10-11.

  12. Ishihara, T., Matsuzawa, Y., Wang, J., & Peckham, H. 2012. Building a Better Pound Net. In SWOT Report— The State of the World’s Sea Turtles, vol. 7: 16-17.

  13. Wang, J. H., Barkan, J., Fisler, S., & Swimmer, Y. 2014. Illuminating Innovations in Fisheries Technology Reduce Bycatch. In SWOT Report— The State of the World’s Sea Turtles, vol. 9: 26-27.

  14. Wibbels, T., & Bevan, E. 2015. New Riddle in the Kemp's Ridley Saga. In SWOT Report— The State of the World’s Sea Turtles, vol. 10: 14-17.

  15. Stelfox, M., Hudgins, J., & Gunn, R. 2016. Action on GhostGear. In SWOT Report— The State of the World’s Sea Turtles, vol. 11: 38-39.

  16. Rodriguez Baron, J. M., Williard, A., Abrego, M. E., Tobon, A., Bermudez, D., & Arriatti, Y. 2018. Building Bycatch Solutions from the Ground Up for the East Pacific Leatherback. In SWOT Report— The State of the World’s Sea Turtles, vol. 13: 36-37.

  17. Leslie, A., Jacob, T., Fatima, E., Malayilethu, V., Nalovic, M., & Kelle, L. 2018. Why Europe Needs to Adopt Turtle Excluder Devices. In SWOT Report— The State of the World’s Sea Turtles, vol. 13: 38-39.

  18. Giffoni, B., Sales, G., Fiedler, F. N., Mendilaharsu, M. L., & Marcovaldi, M. A. 2019. The Continuing Tale of Circle Hooks in Brazil. In SWOT Report— The State of the World’s Sea Turtles, vol. 14: 30-32.

  19. Senko, J., Mancini, A., Bailly, M., Christen, J. B., Jenkins, L., & Wang, J. 2020. Do Sea Turtles See the Light? Developing Solar-Powered Illuminated Nets to Reduce Sea Turtle Bycatch. In SWOT Report— The State of the World’s Sea Turtles, vol. 15: 8-11.

Stay tuned for more in this series based on “The 5 Biggest Threats to Sea Turtles” 2006. Their Greatest Challenge in 100 Million Years: Facing the Hazards of Humankind. In SWOT Report— The State of the World’s Sea Turtles, vol. 1: 5.

 
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