Turtle captures in shrimp trawl nets in Bahrain

Abstract

Based on fishermen logbooks, this study assessed turtle captures in Bahrain's shrimp trawl fishery for five fishing seasons during 1998–2003. Estimated total turtle captures were 298 ±184, 264 ±171, 433 ± 243, 394 ± 227, and 234 ± 177 cases which were caught during 39,147 ± 1,269, 35,761 ± 12,400, 42,747 ± 13,637, 37,071 ± 11,781, 43,923 ± 11,994 fishing days, respectively. It is likely that the green turtle was the species involved for most of these turtle captures. Fishing effort mean values were significantly different between seasons and fishing areas; while turtle capture rate mean values were not significantly different between seasons, months and areas. This suggests that turtles are randomly appearing in the shrimp fishing areas irrespective of the month, season, or fishing ground. These turtles are likely foraging in parts of the shrimp fishing ground or passing through the area during their migrations. Shrimp fishing grounds have previously been identified as a foraging habitat for sea turtles. Conservation actions are required to minimize the threat of shrimp trawl nets on green turtles. An immediate action should be to deliver a fishermen's awareness program that would improve their handling of live marine turtles once caught in the nets. Furthermore, fishermen should be required to adopt gear modifications and the government should enforce regulations that minimize the impact of shrimp trawls on Bahrain's green turtle population. These requirements are not only a national necessity, but contribute to the achievement of global conservation objectives.