04 July 2012

Sea turtle entanglement and mortality in fishing gear



Today we found this turtle adrift in the Gulf. Initially we thought she was still alive, and attempted a rescue, but unfortunately she had recently died and there was nothing we could do.

This animal had a piece of fishing longline protruding from her mouth, the possible cause of death.

In the past we have successfully rescued a few turtles that were either entangled in fishing nets or had ingested longlines (an image of a successful rescue is shown below). Entanglement or ingestion of fishing gear seems to be commonplace.




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