The Trapdoor That Saves Sea Turtles From Shrimp Nets

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Picture a shrimp trawl net moving slowly
along the bottom of the warm, shallow bay.

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shrimp pour in as the boat moves
forward and the net moves forward.

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Then a Kemp Ridley sea turtle,
the most endangered sea turtle on

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Earth, gets swept into the net.

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It hits a metal grid, slides down,
and pushed out through a flap in the

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bottom of the net, and swims away.

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The shrimp stay where they are in the net,
and they get taken up and put on the deck.

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But here's what people don't know.

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That little trapdoor is one of
the greatest success stories in

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ocean conservation and fisheries
management, and we're gonna be talking

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about that on this episode of the
How to Protect the Ocean podcast.

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I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.

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I'm a marine biologist and science
communicator here to give you information

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on ocean news, ocean science, and
ocean conservation, break it all

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down for you, 'cause this is what
I love to do, so that you can kinda

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learn more about the ocean, have less
ocean anxiety or climate anxiety,

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'cause that's what we all talk about.

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And now, this week, we've been
talking about sustainable seafood,

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we've been talking about fisheries,
and, last episode, we talked

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about how we take too many fish.

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And today is all about the animals
that we never meant to take at all.

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All these bycatch animals,
because obviously we don't

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wanna have a lot of bycatch.

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And if you listen to Monday's episode,
where I talked to Dr. David Shiffman,

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who's the author of Why Sustainable
Seafood Matters, you're gonna learn

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more about that if you listen to that
episode after this one, because I

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talk all about these types of themes,
and you get his take on it as well.

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So you can pre-order his book if
you go to the link in the show notes

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down below, or description if you're
watching this on YouTube, and you

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can see what we've been talking
about and all that wonderful stuff.

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You can see what sustainable seafood
is all about and learn how to do it

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without a PhD. That's the big thing.

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It's just for everybody that wants
to learn more about how to order

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sustainable seafood and understand
what sustainable seafood is.

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So now let's go back to this, devices,

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these fisheries devices.

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\ Now you've heard that shrimp nets drown
sea turtles, that fishing lines strangle

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whales, that dolphins die in tuna nets.

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They drown, So every time you buy seafood,
there's a background guilt a little bit.

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What else got caught as
this fish was getting caught

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that I'm about to eat today?

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But today, I wanna swap that guilt for
something more useful, knowing some

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of the fixes that have been working
and how to find seafood caught with

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them, that's an important aspect.

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Early in my career, I worked as
a marine mammal observer, and I

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learned quickly that what happens
on the back deck of a boat is only

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known if someone is there to see it.

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if I'm not there, if I wasn't there
as a fisheries observer or as a marine

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mammal observer, the people that are
doing the seismic survey the boat

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that I was on Are probably not gonna
stop, with the guns when these marine

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mammals come into the radius of the
boat where they could be affected by

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the noise of the acoustic guns that
are happening with the seismic survey.

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Same thing with a fisheries observer,
it's difficult to find out what's

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happening and understanding how things
are being caught, what bycatch is

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being caught or anything like that.

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Now, bycatch is anything caught that
the fisher wasn't trying to catch in

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the first place, and that happens a lot
with trawl fishing, the one conservation

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scientists like worry about the most are
endangered, threatened, and protected

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species, so sea turtles, sharks, sea
birds like albatross, whales, and

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dolphins of course in the marine mammal
section, they're usually swimming near

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the target fish 'cause they're eating
the same food and using the same water.

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And so sometimes when they see fish
aggregated in one area, they're

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gonna go and start feeding on them,
but the net or the line doesn't know

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the difference between these fish.

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Although there are like net sizes,
mesh sizes for the nets that allow

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some of the smaller animals to go out
so they don't catch juveniles and some

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of the bycatch that are smaller, and
they only catch the larger fish, but

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when you have sea turtles or whales or
dolphins or, anything else like that,

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it's really hard to not catch those,

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Because they're bigger and they'll get
caught in the net Now, one of the things

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we've discussed a number of times on
here is the North Atlantic right whale.

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It's one of the most endangered
whales on the planet.

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Scientists estimate there's 384
of them alive at the end of 2024.

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Now, I talked about this on Ocean Decoded.

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We have seen an increase
for the first time.

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I think it was like 23 offspring this
year, and so it's the first time in a long

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time where we've seen an increase, but
it's still dire need for these species.

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And people often ask how a whale
can be caught in a lobster trap.

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It's not a net by any means, But the
danger is the rope, every trap or every

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string of traps has a line running, from
the sea floor up to a buoy on the surface.

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Off of New England and Atlantic Canada,
there are a huge number of those vertical

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lines in the water, and the right whales
feed in the same areas where these

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lobster traps are and crab traps are.

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A whale, like, swims into the line,
it wraps it around its flipper,

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or it gets caught or the fluke,
like the tail, or even the mouth.

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Sometimes it goes right around the mouth.

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And some will drown because they
can't get up to the surface because

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they're caught in so many lines.

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And then some are just so badly injured
that as they drag the net, they get

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entangled, and then the line starts
to, cut into their pectoral fins or

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their mouths or anything like that.

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Those cuts get infected, some of them,
they drag, like, heavy gear behind

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them for months and months and months.

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So entanglement and ship strikes tend
to be, like, the two leading causes of

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death or serious injury of the species,
of the North Atlantic right whale.

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in September 2022, Seafood Watch, which
is, like, an app that you can use for

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sustainable fishing, and it tells you
what to avoid and what to take or what you

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can eat and how it's caught and all that
kind of stuff to ask the right question.

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They moved American lobster from
the US and Canada to its red,

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quote-unquote, "avoid list."

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Basically because of the
risk to the right whales.

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In December 2022, after a US federal
court ruled that whale protections in the

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fishery didn't go far enough, the Marine
Stewardship Council suspended the Gulf

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of Maine lobster fishery certification.

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And the independent auditor noted
it had found no direct evidence that

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Maine's fishery had harmed right whales.

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But the suspension came because
the legal protections around

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it had been found inadequate.

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So the lobster fishery
itself, is well-managed.

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It's considered it's well-managed.

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But the problem is the rope that is
attached to the trap that goes up to

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the surface to the buoy, that's the
problem Now, this got pretty political.

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Like within weeks, Maine's congressional
delegation introduced a bill to block

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federal funding to the Monterey Bay
Aquarium, which runs Seafood Watch.

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So they wanted to stop Seafood Watch from
working, which is probably the best thing

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we can have for a sustainable seafood app.

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Marine Stewardship Council has
sustainable seafood, but it's not

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really an app, it's more they work with
the supply chain and the retailers.

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But then Congress paused right whale
rules for the lobster fishery until 2028.

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And in September 2026, the House
voted to extend that pause to 2035.

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So lobster families are facing, warmer
water, shifting stocks, and rising costs,

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and their frustration is pretty real.

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Like, I get it.

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And the whales still need that fixed.

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So there are two options
to how to fix this.

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We can do a weak rope, which are lines
strong enough to, haul traps, but weak

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enough to snap when a 50-ton whale
basically hits them or goes through them.

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And if a whale hits your line,
you lose that gear either way.

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So, at one point, weak ropes means,
the whale doesn't lose its life too.

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You're already gonna lose your
gear, but because the whale's going

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through it, but what can you do?

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Now, the other option is something
that's growing in demand, is

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that on-demand or ropeless gear.

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So no line sitting in the water.

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The trap waits at the bottom with a lift
bag or like some kind of spooled line.

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When the boat arrives, to grab the
trap, it sends an acoustic signal,

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and the trap rises to the surface.

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and when it first came out, I
remember talking to fishers.

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They disliked it because it was expensive,
it was new, and it didn't work very well.

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But it's different from how lobsters
had been fishing for generations,

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and nobody loves that type of change.

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So I can understand that.

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But a growing number of fishers in
the US and Canada are testing it.

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And because some of the crab and
lobster fishery has shut down in

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certain areas, especially where right
whales are known to go, they start

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to embrace it a little bit more.

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And so grants are helping to cover
the cost, and the gear keeps getting

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better and better with each trial.

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So, some people are gonna be like,
"Hey, this actually might work

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eventually." Now, let's move over
to the sea turtle bit that I talked

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about at the beginning of the episode.

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Sea turtles, of course, breathe
air, A turtle caught in a shrimp

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net, like that's dragged around
for an hour or more will drown.

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It can't get to the surface.

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Although it can hold its breath for
a long time, it's something that's

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really important for them to do is
to get up there so they can breathe.

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Now, the fix for this is called a
turtle excluder device, or a TED.

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Not the speeches, not like the
TEDx or anything like that.

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Not online.

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This is a TED, a turtle excluder device.

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It's basically like a metal grid sewn
onto the neck of the net, so like at the

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part of the net where it kinda extends.

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and it has an escape flap.

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So the small shrimp pass through
the bars into the bag at the end,

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which is great, and a turtle's
too big to fit through that bag.

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So it hits the grid, slides along it,
and b- gets pushed out through the flap.

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So if used correctly, TEDs cut sea
turtle deaths and shrimp deaths by

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about 97%, and the shrimp catch,
they don't change that much.

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And that's why it works really well.

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The fix has saved pretty
much every turtle, but empty

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the net would never be used.

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But the thing is, the TED works.

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for years there was a gap.

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Smaller shrimp boats using a type
of net called a skimmer trawl were

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allowed to fish without TEDs, on the
condition that they limited how long

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each of the nets stayed in the water.

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Observers found that
rule was often ignored.

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In some years, fewer than thirty-five
percent of the monitored tows

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stayed within that time limit.

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So in twenty nineteen, the US government
required TEDs on skimmer trawls for

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boats that were forty feet or longer.

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and Louisiana Shrimpers group, they sued.

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On August 28th, twenty twenty-six,
the Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals

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unanimously upheld the rule, finding
the agency had given a rational,

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evidence-backed explanation.

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And Louisiana waters are prime feeding
ground for Kemp Ridleys, these are the

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most critically endangered sea turtles.

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And Lou- and its waters are prime
feeding grounds for Kemp Ridley

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sea turtles, the world's smallest
and most endangered sea turtle.

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Those turtles now have a trapdoor.

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I want you to notice,
like, the pattern here.

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Like a loophole for small boats will
look harmless because each boat is small.

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And you add up a lot of small boats,
and you get a pretty big problem.

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And if they're not following the
rules, then you get a bigger problem.

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So the court followed the data, made
its ruling, and now we're gonna start to

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see TEDs that's going to be included for
the skimmer nets in shallower waters.

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And also, like I should mention
in this story, is that the federal

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data with observers was very
different than the state data.

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The state data did not show any changes
or show a lot of sea turtles drowning from

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these catches from these skimmer trawls.

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But the federal data
from the observers did.

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So that's a very
interesting, change in data.

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And so the, the Louisiana Shrimp Trawlers
Association was asking to follow the

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state data when the federal data had more.

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It was like three thousand, sea
turtles that died within those nets.

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So it was quite a difference and change,
and the courts went with the federal

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data just to be on the safe side to make
sure, 'cause it was such a big miss,

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let's talk about dolphin safe
tuna, 'cause that's something

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that's really interesting.

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It's a question I get a lot.

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You've probably seen the dolphin
safe logo on a canned tuna, and

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here's what it actually covers.

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So in the eastern tropical Pacific,
tuna often swim under dolphins.

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Fishers used to spot dolphins, then set
like huge purse seine nets around the

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whole group to catch like the tuna below,

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'cause once they saw dolphins, that
was where we knew where tuna was.

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Millions of dolphins in the past died
this way from the late 1950s onward.

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Some populations fell to 20%
to 30% of their original size.

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So a huge, huge problem.

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Now, dolphin safe means the tuna
was caught without setting nets on

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dolphins, and with no dolphins killed
or seriously injured in that set.

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Now, the one thing to learn is
that it's never promised that no

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dolphin anywhere has been harmed
in any part of this fishery.

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Critics who found a dead dolphin near
a dolphin safe fishery and called the

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label meaningless were dredging it
against a promise that it never made.

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and the thing is, is like reported
dolphin deaths in that fishery

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dropped from hundreds of thousands
a year to roughly a thousand.

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And some of those dolphin populations
are showing early signs of recovery.

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That's a huge win in this case.

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Like obviously, nets aren't perfect,
this fishery isn't perfect, and

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we're gonna have some dolphin deaths.

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But to go from 100,000 deaths or hundreds
of thousands of deaths a year to roughly

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a thousand, that's a huge win for
conservation and for the fishery as well.

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Now, every number that I've mentioned
in this episode depends on someone

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counting, so if you ask the boat
to count its own bycatch, there's a

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built-in incentive to report less.

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There's a bias there.

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that's why there are fisheries observers.

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They're independent, it's a great
experience for young biologists, and

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often one that is the best paying job
straight out of a marine biology degree.

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But it also can be dangerous.

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So all you young scientists here, I want
you to make sure you do your research on

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what to expect, how to live on a boat,
understand what it's like to live with

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other fishers, because it's different out
there on the ocean, there are a lot of

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protections, and a lot of these fisheries
boats are happy to have these observers.

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An observer is often the only person
aboard, who doesn't work for that boat to

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make money for that boat, and some people
might look at that as saying, "Hey, you're

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actually gonna prevent us from making
money." So you just have to be careful.

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But the Association for Professional
Observers has documented more than a

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dozen observers who died or disappeared at
sea in unclear circumstances since 2009,

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mostly in the Pacific tuna fisheries.

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Now, these cases are rare,
extremely rare in North America,

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and it still happens elsewhere.

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So if you're going somewhere other than
North America, be very, very like careful.

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Now, there is something that's
coming out that's emerging.

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That's the electronic monitoring.

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So high-definitions cameras
on deck, footage reviewed by

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analysts on shore, which is great.

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Studies suggest that it can cost 15
to 50% less than a human observer.

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And fishers often like the gadgets,
of course, and the camera doesn't

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like need a bunk or a special type
of meal, so it's cheaper for them.

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So the next time you buy tuna,
look for a pole and line, or

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a troll or, hand line caught.

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In a pole and line fishery, a crew stands
at the rail and catches tuna one at a

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time with rods, it's loud, it's chaotic,
it catches almost nothing except tuna.

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And it's usually printed right
on the can, so if it isn't, your

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Seafood Guide app will tell you
which brands tend to use that.

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But every fix in this episode
comes down to the gear.

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When you choose the gear,
you choose the bycatch.

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So if there's pole and
line, you get less bycatch.

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If you have purse seine nets that
are dolphin-safe, you tend to get

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less dolphins caught in these tuna
nets, In these purse seine nets.

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So it's important.

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Tomorrow's episode, we're gonna
be talking about the fishing

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method from a famous documentary
that wants it banned everywhere.

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And the protected areas that aren't
protected, and the fish farms

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you're probably already eating from.

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So we're gonna talk a lot
about that on next episode.

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It's gonna be a very interesting episode.

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don't forget to follow so you can tune in.

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but I want you to think about this, like-

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the boat hauls in a net, like a
shrimp, and the bag is full of shrimp.

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And a few minutes earlier, out of sight,
like a Kemp Ridley slid along a metal grid

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and swam out through a flap and, like,
maybe a little bruised, but it's alive.

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And that's the important thing.

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Seafood and sea turtles
can share the same water,

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They do, 'cause a lot of times
these, Kemp Ridley's turtles are

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actually eating these shrimp.

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But better nets make it possible to
ensure that these sea turtles are

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protected, and we already have them.

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We're already using them, and
now they're being applied to more

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boats from a different variety,
and I think that's a great thing.

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We're saving more species by doing this.

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It's all about fisheries management.

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It's all about data driving this and the
science that drives it to ensure that the

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law can uphold everything that happens.

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This is how we do fisheries management.

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This is how we do ocean conservation,
and this is what you just learned

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on how to protect the ocean.

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I wanna thank you so much for joining me.

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If you're watching or if you're
listening to this on Spotify,

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there's a comment section.

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00:16:24,399 --> 00:16:26,176
Please like, send me a comment.

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I'd love to hear what you
thought of the episode.

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00:16:28,068 --> 00:16:29,864
If you're watching this on YouTube,
you can do the same thing in

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00:16:29,869 --> 00:16:32,792
the comments below and there's
information in the description.

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00:16:33,099 --> 00:16:35,210
And of course, if you're listening
to this on your favorite podcast

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00:16:35,211 --> 00:16:37,127
app, hit me up in my socials.

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00:16:37,163 --> 00:16:38,973
The links are in the show notes.

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I'd love to hear from you.

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Thank you so much for joining
me on today's episode of the How

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00:16:42,819 --> 00:16:43,967
to Protect the Ocean podcast.

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I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.

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Have a great day.

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We'll talk to you next time,
and happy conservation.