Commercial fishing puts sea turtles at peril.

• Position: YOUR LIFE

The number of sea turtles snared by commercial fishing gear over the past 20 years may reach into the millions, maintains a study of bycatch data from gill net, trawl, and longline fisheries published in the journal Conservation Letters. Six of the world's seven species of sea turtles currently are listed as vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

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"Direct onboard observations and interviews with fishermen indicate that about 85,000 turtles were caught between 1990 and 2008 but, because these reports cover less than one percent of all fleets, with little or no information from small-scale fisheries around the world, we conservatively estimate that the true total is at least two orders of magnitude higher," asserts Bryan Wallace, lead author of the study and science adviser for the Sea Turtle Flagship Program at Conservation International. The study did not include data from recreational fishing.

The highest reported bycatch rates for longline fisheries occurred off Mexico's Baja California peninsula; for gill net, the North Adriatic region of the Mediterranean; and for trawls, the Northwest Atlantic. Effective methods to reduce turtle bycatch include the use of circle hooks and fish bait in...