January 20, 2022 — Working with the Gulf of Mexico menhaden fleet, NOAA researchers are working on a methodology for learning about potential sea turtle interactions with purse seines, using a combination of at-sea observers, drones and electronic monitoring cameras on menhaden boats.
One of NOAA’s Gulf Spill Restoration projects – funded by the BP natural resources damage settlement stemming from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion – the turtle study began in 2020 and conducted field trials with industry vessels over five days in October 2021, according to a NMFS summary Jan. 19.
Typically deployed in teams of menhaden steamers with 40-foot seine boats, the fleet harvests menhaden for processing into pet, aquaculture and livestock feeds, fertilizer and fishing bait. In the Gulf of Mexico that brings the possibility of protected sea turtles showing up in nets, but “there isn’t a strong understanding of if and when sea turtles are caught,” according to NMFS.
The project is developing methods for observing those fishing operations to better understand turtle interactions, and to identify how the industry can take voluntary measures to reduce and avoid those occurrences.