2022 and 2023 Independent Proof of Concept Testing for the Deepwater Horizon Restoration Project: Reducing Juvenile Sea Turtle Bycatch through Development of Reduced Bar Spacing Turtle Excluder Devices | Consortium for Wildlife Bycatch Reduction

Location

Northern Gulf of Mexico (Mississippi, Louisiana)

Article

2022 and 2023 Independent Proof of Concept Testing for the Deepwater Horizon Restoration Project: Reducing Juvenile Sea Turtle Bycatch through Development of Reduced Bar Spacing Turtle Excluder Devices

Target catch

brown shrimp (Farfantepenaeus aztecus), white shrimp (Litopenaeus setiferus)

Study Type

Field study in the wild

Effect on target catch

Bent bar, top opening TED reduced shrimp catch by 3.3%, although a low number of shrimp were encountered during the study

Effect on bycatch species

Bent bar, bottoming opening TED and straight bar, top opening TED reduced invertebrate bycatch by 56.2% and 28.4% respectively. No impact on sea turtle bycatch.

Bycatch species

Sea Turtles

Fishing Gear

Trawls

Reduction technique

Excluder devices