Developing best handling practices with fishers (SafeTurtles)

By-catch of sea turtles in fisheries is an important contributor of population declines globally. Mitigation techniques have been developed for some fisheries, but their adoption is often precluded by fisheries characteristics and methods.

While more effective mitigation techniques are developed, it is imperative to introduce fishers to best handling and release practices (BHRP) to improve the survival of captured animals after interaction. This is particularly critical in surface longline, where BHRP have proved to reduce post-release mortality of incidentally captured individuals.

Based on previous experiences in the region, SafeTurtles aims to collaborate with governments and fisheries along the Pacific American coast to facilitate the development of a regulated training system of fishers in BHRP of captured turtles, adapted to the specificities of each targeted fishery, instead of using general recommendations, which might be useless, or even recommend incorrect practices or tools.

Start Date: 01/01/2020
End Date: 30/04/2026

Lead Contact: Mariluz Parga (mariluz@submon.org)