Accidental Sea Turtle Deaths Drop By 90 Percent Since 1990; Fishing Equipment Preventing Lethal ‘Bycatch’

by Underwatertimes.com News Service – September 14, 2011 21:43 EST

DURHAM, North Carolina — The number of sea turtles accidentally caught and killed in fishing gear in United States coastal waters has declined by an estimated 90 percent since 1990, according to a new study by researchers at Duke University Project GloBAL and Conservation International.

The report, published in the scientific journal Biological Conservation, credits the dramatic drop to measures that have been put into place over the last 20 years to reduce bycatch in many fisheries, as well as to overall declines in U.S. fishing activity.