The common interest in healthy fish stocks means that solutions must involve support from conservationists, scientists and fishers. One such example is the deployment of Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) in waters off northern Australia, where six species of sea turtle come into conflict with significant prawn and scallop trawl fisheries. According to WWF Australia, bycatch is the leading cause of death for cetaceans, turtles, dugongs, sharks and seabirds – and some populations are likely to become extinct due to repeated encounters with fishing gear. The issue is particularly acute for green and hawksbill turtles.
After the Australian Fisheries Management Authority found that longline tuna fishing off Australia’s east coast was killing sea turtles in a bycatch ‘hotspot’ in the Coral Sea in the 2010s, it mandated TEDs and other bycatch-reduction devices across Queensland and northern prawn fisheries.
