November 6, 2024 — The Open Ocean Trustee Implementation Group, in partnership with the Gulf of Mexico Menhaden Fishery, has completed a project assessing methods for observing sea turtle interactions during fishing operations and determined that electronic monitoring proved the most effective.
The goals of the Developing Methods to Observe Sea Turtle Interactions in the Gulf of Mexico Menhaden Purse Seine Fishery Project (Menhaden Project) were to test methods to observe the Gulf of Mexico Menhaden Fishery, collect data on the nature and extent of interactions with sea turtles, and identify ways to work with industry partners to establish voluntary measures to avoid and reduce interactions in the future. After testing a range of observation methods during the 2022 and 2023 fishing seasons, the project has completed implementation.