Equipping Peruvian small-scale fishers to save sea turtles

Founded in 1995, Pro Delphinus is a not-for-profit Peruvian organization based in Lima. Pro Delphinus conducts projects on research and conservation of threatened and endangered marine species, such as sea turtles, marine otters, cetaceans, seabirds, and sharks. These species are either permanent residents to Peruvian waters or temporary visitors as they continue along their migration routes.

 Through this project Pro Delphinus seeks to provide Peruvian small-scale fishers with the tools necessary to safely handle and release endangered sea turtles that are incidentally caught in their fishery.  Five of the seven species of sea turtles can be found in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Peru. These are the green, hawksbill, loggerhead, olive ridley and leatherback turtle. While there is no nesting of sea turtles in Peru, these species come from all across the Pacific Ocean to feed in the incredibly productive Humboldt Current ecosystem off the Peru coast. For example, South Pacific loggerhead turtles that are born on nesting beaches in Australia cross the Pacific to spend several decades feeding off Peru before returning to the western Pacific. Meanwhile, leatherback turtles that nest on beaches in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Indonesia all can be found off Peru feeding on jellyfish.

Leatherback turtle by-catch being released

Unfortunately, these turtle populations are at severe risk – classified as Endangered and Critically Endangered (meaning they face imminent extinction unless immediate conservation actions are taken). The main threat these species face in Peru is incidental catch in fisheries (also known as ‘bycatch’). This occurs because even though fishers might be fishing for mahi mahi, for example, turtles sometime get entangled or hooked in the fishing gear. This can lead to turtle deaths or severe injuries, from swallowed fishing hooks, for example. These types of bycatch interactions impact other marine fauna as well, including seabirds and marine mammals.

Peruvian small scale fleet

Peru has massive fishing fleets that also take advantage of the highly productive Humboldt Current. One of these fleets is the small-scale longline fishery that fishes for mahi mahi. There are about 4000 of these vessels and the fleet sets millions of hooks annually. The Peru government recently passed a new law that promotes sea turtle conservation - it requires every vessel in this fleet to have at least one crew person trained to safely handle and release incidentally caught sea turtles.

Pro Delphinus has a project in collaboration with the Peru government and fisher organizations to provide 2000 fishers – enough to cover half the fleet – with this mandatory sea turtle safe handling and release training. Unfortunately, these grants are not sufficient to provide fishers with the special tools necessary (called dehookers and line cutters) to help fishers save sea turtles.     

De-hookers

Noble Caledonia has committed to support Pro Delphinus in its aims to supply the tools to release sea turtles, along with the training already being conducted. The cost of these tools is approximately 20 US dollars (USD) each. With the support of our passengers we have committed to fundraise and have pledged £5.000 towards the project in 2024. This will help cover the cost of providing the tools to the fishers trained through their program.