Sea turtles and survivability in demersal trawl fisheries: Do comatose olive ridley sea turtles survive post-release?

Sea turtles and survivability in demersal trawl fisheries: Do comatose olive ridley sea turtles survive post-release?

Incidental capture of air-breathing species in fishing gear is a major source of mortality for many threatened populations. Even when individuals are discarded alive, they may not survive due to direct injury, or due to more cryptic internal physiological injury such as decompression sickness. Post-...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Animal biotelemetry Vol. 6; no. 1; pp. 1 - 8
Main Authors: Maxwell, Sara M, Witt, Matthew J, Abitsi, Gaspard, Aboro, Marie Pierre, Agamboue, Pierre Didier, Asseko, Georges Mba, Boussamba, François, Chartrain, Emmanuel, Gnandji, Micheline Schummer, Mabert, Brice Didier Koumba, Makanga, Felicien Mavoungou, Manfoumbi, Jean Churley, Nguema, Jean Noel Bibang Bi, Nzegoue, Jacob, Oliwina, Carmen Karen Kouerey, Sounguet, Guy-Philippe, Formia, Angela
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London BioMed Central Ltd 10-09-2018
BioMed Central
BMC
Subjects:
Aerial surveying
Agricultural associations
Bycatch
Caretta caretta
Chelonia mydas
Coma
Decompression
Decompression sickness
Dermochelys coriacea
Diving
Eretmochelys imbricata
Fisheries
Fishing
Fishing (Recreation)
Fishing equipment
Fishing tackle
Lepidochelys kempii
Lepidochelys olivacea
Metabolism
Mortality
Olive ridley sea turtle
Physiology
Post-release mortality
Predation
Respiration
Resuscitation
Sea turtles
Survival
Trawl fishing
Trawling
Gabon
United States > US
Africa
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Summary:Incidental capture of air-breathing species in fishing gear is a major source of mortality for many threatened populations. Even when individuals are discarded alive, they may not survive due to direct injury, or due to more cryptic internal physiological injury such as decompression sickness. Post-release mortality, however, can be difficult to determine. In this pilot study, we deployed survivorship pop-up archival tags (sPAT) (n = 3) for an air-breathing species, the olive ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), one of the first studies to do so. We found that at least two of the three turtles survived after being captured in demersal fish trawl nets and being resuscitated from a comatose state following standard UN Food and Agriculture Organization guidelines. One turtle died; however, the absence of a change in light level but continued diving activity suggested that the turtle was likely predated. Whether capture contributed to the turtle's susceptibility to predation post-release is unknown, and average tow duration during this fishing trip was similar in duration to that of a turtle that survived (1.5 h). The two surviving turtles displayed normal horizontal and vertical movements based on previous tagging studies. This study suggests that resuscitation techniques may be effective; however, additional study is necessary to increase sample sizes, and to determine the severity of decompression sickness across different levels of activity and in other fishing gears. This will result in better population mortality estimates, as well as highlight techniques to increase post-release survivorship. Keywords: Post-release mortality, Trawl fishing, Bycatch, Resuscitation, Decompression sickness, Olive ridley sea turtle
ISSN:2050-3385
2050-3385
DOI:10.1186/s40317-018-0155-1