April 2010

  • Sea Turtles Killed by Fisheries

    By sarajean on 4/30/10 3:31pm
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    Need a reason to ease up on the fish eating other than vegetarianism, being humane to animals, avoiding mercury poisoning, and the environment itself? If you love sea turtles, you might want to start eating fake fish, because it turns out that the fishing industry is causing death to many turtles every day.

    Within the last 20 years, millions of sea turtles have been captured—usually accidentally—by unsustainable fishing practices such as trawling or using longlines or gillnet methods. If you thought dolphin bycatch during tuna hunting was bad, you’ll be very dismayed to know that sea turtles are commonly drowning by being kept in these nets for too long. Like other reptiles, they require oxygen—something they cannot get when trapped in a net.

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