Sea turtle bycatch to fish catch ratios for differentiating Hawaii longline-caught seafood products

Sea turtles can be incidentally caught in pelagic longline fishing gear targeting tuna and swordfish. Bycatch to fish catch (B/C) ratios can differentiate seafood based on sea turtle impacts. This study demonstrates the use of B/C ratios indexed to the weight of fish catch: (1) to report on the significant progress in reducing sea turtle bycatch in Hawaii's swordfish longline sector and (2) to compare Hawaii and other Pacific longline fisheries by number of sea turtle interactions per weight of catch. Hawaii's longline tuna fishery sets the benchmark of I sea turtle interaction per 190,000 kg of tuna caught. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.