Conservation hotspots for the turtles on the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean.
Understanding the distribution of bycaught sea turtles could inform conservation strategies and priorities. This research analyses the distribution of turtles caught as longline fisheries bycatch on the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean. This research collected 18,142 bycatch observations and 47.1 mil...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:0504fd2f0e074c449732bdcc4245c4fe 2023-05-15T18:21:14+02:00 Conservation hotspots for the turtles on the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean. Hsiang-Wen Huang 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0133614 https://doaj.org/article/0504fd2f0e074c449732bdcc4245c4fe EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4534298?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0133614 https://doaj.org/article/0504fd2f0e074c449732bdcc4245c4fe PLoS ONE, Vol 10, Iss 8, p e0133614 (2015) Medicine R Science Q article 2015 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0133614 2022-12-31T11:12:37Z Understanding the distribution of bycaught sea turtles could inform conservation strategies and priorities. This research analyses the distribution of turtles caught as longline fisheries bycatch on the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean. This research collected 18,142 bycatch observations and 47.1 million hooks from large-scale Taiwanese longline vessels in the Atlantic Ocean from June 2002 to December 2013. The coverage rates were ranged from 0.48% to 17.54% by year. Seven hundred and sixty-seven turtles were caught, and the major species were leatherback (59.8%), olive ridley (27.1%) and loggerhead turtles (8.7%). Most olive ridley (81.7%) and loggerhead (82.1%) turtles were hooked, while the leatherbacks were both hooked (44.0%) and entangled (31.8%). Depending on the species, 21.4% to 57.7% were dead when brought onboard. Most of the turtles were caught in tropical areas, especially in the Gulf of Guinea (15°N-10°S, 30°W-10°E), but loggerheads were caught in the south Atlantic Ocean (25°S-35°S, 40°W-10°E and 30°S-40°S, 55°W-45°W). The bycatch rate was the highest at 0.030 per 1000 hooks for leatherbacks in the tropical area. The bycatch rates of olive ridley ranged from 0 to 0.010 per thousand hooks. The loggerhead bycatch rates were higher in the northern and southern Atlantic Ocean and ranged from 0.0128 to 0.0239 per thousand hooks. Due to the characteristics of the Taiwanese deep-set longline fleet, bycatch rates were lower than those of coastal longline fisheries, but mortality rates were higher because of the long hours of operation. Gear and bait modification should be considered to reduce sea turtle bycatch and increase survival rates while reducing the use of shallow hooks would also be helpful. Article in Journal/Newspaper South Atlantic Ocean Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles PLOS ONE 10 8 e0133614 |
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Medicine R Science Q Hsiang-Wen Huang Conservation hotspots for the turtles on the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean. |
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Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Understanding the distribution of bycaught sea turtles could inform conservation strategies and priorities. This research analyses the distribution of turtles caught as longline fisheries bycatch on the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean. This research collected 18,142 bycatch observations and 47.1 million hooks from large-scale Taiwanese longline vessels in the Atlantic Ocean from June 2002 to December 2013. The coverage rates were ranged from 0.48% to 17.54% by year. Seven hundred and sixty-seven turtles were caught, and the major species were leatherback (59.8%), olive ridley (27.1%) and loggerhead turtles (8.7%). Most olive ridley (81.7%) and loggerhead (82.1%) turtles were hooked, while the leatherbacks were both hooked (44.0%) and entangled (31.8%). Depending on the species, 21.4% to 57.7% were dead when brought onboard. Most of the turtles were caught in tropical areas, especially in the Gulf of Guinea (15°N-10°S, 30°W-10°E), but loggerheads were caught in the south Atlantic Ocean (25°S-35°S, 40°W-10°E and 30°S-40°S, 55°W-45°W). The bycatch rate was the highest at 0.030 per 1000 hooks for leatherbacks in the tropical area. The bycatch rates of olive ridley ranged from 0 to 0.010 per thousand hooks. The loggerhead bycatch rates were higher in the northern and southern Atlantic Ocean and ranged from 0.0128 to 0.0239 per thousand hooks. Due to the characteristics of the Taiwanese deep-set longline fleet, bycatch rates were lower than those of coastal longline fisheries, but mortality rates were higher because of the long hours of operation. Gear and bait modification should be considered to reduce sea turtle bycatch and increase survival rates while reducing the use of shallow hooks would also be helpful. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hsiang-Wen Huang |
author_facet |
Hsiang-Wen Huang |
author_sort |
Hsiang-Wen Huang |
title |
Conservation hotspots for the turtles on the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean. |
title_short |
Conservation hotspots for the turtles on the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean. |
title_full |
Conservation hotspots for the turtles on the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean. |
title_fullStr |
Conservation hotspots for the turtles on the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Conservation hotspots for the turtles on the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean. |
title_sort |
conservation hotspots for the turtles on the high seas of the atlantic ocean. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0133614 https://doaj.org/article/0504fd2f0e074c449732bdcc4245c4fe |
genre |
South Atlantic Ocean |
genre_facet |
South Atlantic Ocean |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 10, Iss 8, p e0133614 (2015) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4534298?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0133614 https://doaj.org/article/0504fd2f0e074c449732bdcc4245c4fe |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0133614 |
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PLOS ONE |
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10 |
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8 |
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