Trawl Fisheries

Sea turtle lovers, you might want to sit down for this. This week, a study found that nearly 3,000 endangered Pacific loggerhead sea turtles were found dead along a 27-mile stretch of Baja California, Mexico's coast during a five-year period from 2003 to 2007. That’s an average of more than 11 sea turtles found dead a week – on a relatively small stretch of beach.

The turtle deaths are as a result of fishing bycatch, when turtles get caught accidentally in fishing nets, which Oceana is campaigning to stop. We are working to reduce the number of sea turtles caught each year in commercial fisheries, get more observers on-board fishing boats to count the number of sea turtles caught, and obtain better information on how fisheries impact sea turtle populations.

Fact: All six sea turtle species in U.S. waters are threatened with, or in danger of, extinction. Fact: Bottom trawl fisheries are the single greatest threat to loggerhead sea turtles. This is where we come in...