Guidelines for Handling Marine Turtles Hooked or Entangled in the Hawaii LonglineFishery: Results of an Expert Workshop. Held in Honolulu, Hawaii on March 15-17, 1995

摘要

Mortality and injury of sea turtles resulting from incidental capture in variouscommercial fisheries are widely recognized as important issues to the recovery and long-term conservation of these threatened and endangered species (NMFS/FWS 1991a, 1991b, 1992). All sea turtles under U.S. jurisdiction are listed and protected under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Forced submergence in shrimp trawls in the southeastern United States and elsewhere worldwide has been a focus of research and mitigation efforts during recent years. However, the urgent need has also been emphasized to closely examine the bycatch of sea turtles by other fishing gear, such as coastal set nets, highseas driftnets, purse seines, and longlines (National Research Council, 1990). Sea turtles incidentally hooked or entangled in pelagic habitats of the North Pacific by the Hawaii-based longline fishery are an issue of continuing concern and investigation.