Article Review: Mitigating Bycatch of Freshwater Turtles in Passively Fished Fyke Nets Through the Use of Exclusion and Escape Modifications.

A growing concern involves not just the bycatch of sea turtles, but now the issue of bycatch of freshwater turtles as well. In this article the experimenters used two different types of exclusion gear modifications to fyke nets and a fyke net with an escape modification. Results looked at the escape percentage of turtles and the percentage of target fish retained. The first method in the experiment used a fyke net with exclusion bars and the second used a fyke net with exclusion rings fitted at the entrance of the net. The results for these two exclusion gear modifications showed a 50% reduction in turtle captures versus the unmodified nets used for controls in the experiment. The most substantial difference was seen in amount of captures for the eastern musk turtle. The third method placed an escape chimney as a modification to fyke nets and resulted in 88% of the introduced painted turtles escaping. The capture rate of fish for all three methods was very similar in numbers with the unmodified fyke net, making all three of these methods good for future use in freshwater fishing.

Figure A shows the unmodified fyke net. Figure B shows the opening of the exclusion ring net. Figure C shows the placement of the escape chimney used in method 3.
The conservation of freshwater turtles is becoming a local and global concern. With further research like the article above by Larocque, Cooke, and Blouin-Demers, we can reduce the bycatch of freshwater turtles before it becomes a problem like it has in the bycatch of sea turtles and in drastically reduction of their numbers.

http://www.sciencedirect.com.nuncio.cofc.edu/science/article/pii/S0165783612000987