Cut Loose and Dead

Photograph courtesy Projeto Tamar Brazil, Image Bank

Many sea turtles that are drowned in fishing nets are cut loose and wash ashore, such as this turtle in a file photo taken in Brazil. Small-scale fishers, in particular, tend not to have room on their boats–or time–for entangled turtles, according to Wallace.

"It is really tricky," he said. "You can imagine if you are a small-scale fisherman and your gillnet is your meal ticket and you've got a big leatherback that's stuck and entangled in this thing–you are risking your own life trying to free the turtle."