GPS traffic maps for leatherback turtles show hotspots to prevent accidental fishing deaths
Wednesday, January 8, 2014 - 21:00
in Biology & Nature
Pacific leatherback turtles, among the most endangered animal populations in the world, often die hooked or tangled in industrial longlines that set thousands of hooks in the ocean to catch fish. In a new study, researchers show the use-intensity distributions for 135 satellite-tracked adult turtles and distributions of longline fishing effort in the Pacific Ocean. The overlap of these distributions in space and time allows prediction of bycatch risk.