Southeast Asia Sea Turtle Associative ResearchBangkok, Thailand, 16-19 December 2002To mitigate incidental catch of sea turtles by pound net fishery, we tested the efficiency of the specially designed pocket nets to release turtles selectively. The experiments were carried out using a pound net in operation in a lagoon of Ishigaki Island, southernmost Japan. Immature green turtles, Chelonia mydas, were put into the pocket net and their behaviors were captured with underwater video. The turtles showed back and forth motion in the pocket net between two funnels or between the funnel and the cod-end. An escape hatch with a flap was equipped above the base of the funnels on the pocket net. Three designs of the escape hatch were examined. Using these gears, unintended capture of sea turtles by pound net is expected to reduce by about 60 %
