The Open Ocean Trustee Implementation Group recently completed a project addressing juvenile sea turtle bycatch in the Gulf of America otter trawl shrimp fishery. In partnership with the fishery, the project team developed and tested modified turtle excluder devices (TEDs). They found that a reduction in bar spacing on the TED grid successfully excludes small turtles and maintains shrimp catch.
In the end, the project successfully evaluated TEDs with a reduced bar spacing for their impact on juvenile sea turtle exclusion and shrimp catch rates in the otter trawl shrimp fishery.
Please click the following link for more information: https://gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/2025/07/small-bar-teds-successfully-exclude-small-turtles?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery