Written by Matt Thon.

Shrimp fishing has many negative effects on the populations of the various species of sea turtles. Sea turtles are one of the marine animals that are caught up in the shrimp trawler nets and are considered bycatch, or an animal unintentionally caught. The turtles need air and have to come up to the surface to breathe; they are not able to breathe at all while in the water. Some of the species of turtles nearly went extinct in the past, including the Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle. They nearly went extinct due to overharvest and accidental bycatch (Witzell 2007). Turtle eggs were also a common source of protein for the locals and were dug up on the beaches.

Sea turtles are now protected by laws regarding their catch and harvesting of eggs, and there are devices out there created solely for the purpose of protecting the turtles from being shrimp bycatch. These devices are called turtle excluder devices, or TEDs (Bache 2000). This is only one of the things being done to protect the turtles, other things such as setting up protected sites for the turtles and patrolling waters to ensure they aren’t caught in shrimp trawling nets (Couzin 1998). Seasonal closure of areas near beaches where the turtles nest also could help to limit the disturbance of the turtles, lowering the mortality of nesting adults helping them survive long term (Lewison 2003). All of these practices together can help the turtles to come back from their endangered status. There are seven species of sea turtles, of those seven 3 are critically endangered, another 3 are endangered, and the status of the last species is unknown due to a lack of information (WWF 2004). Shrimp fishing and the mortality rates of turtles have been linked to give us the situation we have today. The continuing enforcement of these practices designed to protect turtles should help to limit the effects of shrimp fishing on the populations of turtles, possibly even allowing them to get off the endangered species list.



Want to Learn More?

World Wildlife Fund (WWF). 2004. Sea turtles worth more alive than dead. WWF, Washington, D.C.

Bache, S. J. 2000. International bycatch policy: options for sea turtle conservation. International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law. 3: 333.

Lewison, R. L., L. Crowder, and D. Shaver. 2003. The impact of turtle excluder devices and fisheries closure on loggerhead and Kemp’s Ridley Strandings in the Western Gulf of Mexico. Conservation Biology. 4: 1089-1098.

Witzell, W. N., P. Burchfield, L. Pena, R. Marquez-M, G. Ruiz-M. 2007. Nesting success of Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtles, Lepidochelys Kempi, at Rancho Nuevo, Tamalipaus, Mexico. Marine Fisheries Review. 1-4: 46-52.

Couzin, J. 1998. Saving turtles. Science. 5384: 1795-1799.

Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World

Freshwater Ecoregions of the World

Marine Ecoregions of the World







This page was created from an environmental education writing project generated in the Fall 2009 Bio245 Conservation Biology class. Content does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Gustavus Adolphus College.

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