Tens of thousands of sea turtles are caught each year by small-scale fishers off South America’s Pacific coast, new research shows.

Surveys at 43 harbours in Ecuador, Peru and Chile reveal that gillnet fisheries catch more than 46,000 sea turtles per year, with more than 16,000 killed in the process.

And the true numbers are likely to be higher, as not all ports in each country were surveyed.

Such accidental catching – known as bycatch – is a major threat to species including sea turtles, and the researchers say their findings highlight Ecuador and Peru as key places to tackle this.

“People worry about industrial fisheries but a real concern that people are waking up to is small-scale fisheries,” said Professor Brendan Godley, of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation on the University of Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall.

Read more at University of Exeter

Image: Thousands of sea turtles are accidentally caught off South America's Pacific coast each year. (Credit: ProDelphinus)

• Top Stories
• Ecosystems