Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Fishing ban · Mediterranean (multiple) · 2011–2023

Mediterranean fisheries bycatch of sea turtles: GFCM rules of 2011 and 2021 and a Tunisian fisher study

Nature's voice · report
Casale (2011), as cited in a 2019 paper, gives more than 132,000 of my sea turtles, all species, caught each year in Mediterranean fisheries. Frontiers in Marine Science
Did nature suffer? Yes. Harm is on record.
Recorded
What the record lacks: 2 none on record · 2 insufficient · 1 disputed · 2 unclear See the gaps

A review cited in a 2019 paper gives more than 132,000 sea turtles caught per year in the Mediterranean, all species. The General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean adopted a landing and release rule in 2011 and a mitigation recommendation in 2021, and a 2023 Tunisian study named ray nets, trawls and pelagic longlines as the main threats.

More than 132,000Sea turtles caught per year in the Mediterranean, all species
Casale (2011), as cited in a 2019 Frontiers in Marine Science article. The figure covers all sea turtle species, not loggerheads alone.

Status As of October 2026: the 2011 and 2021 GFCM recommendations are in the sources reviewed; no compliance data and no litigation were found.

What?
Sea turtles are caught incidentally by Mediterranean fisheries, with more than 132,000 captures per year across all species cited in a 2019 paper; the GFCM adopted a landing and release rule in 2011 and a reporting and mitigation recommendation in 2021. Frontiers in Marine Science
Where?
The Mediterranean, with the 2023 interview study at 19 Tunisian ports and the 1998 Bern recommendation covering Yumurtalik Bay, Türkiye. Animals, via PubMed Central
When?
2011 (GFCM rule and Casale review), 2019 (Frontiers article), 2021 (GFCM recommendation), 2023 (Tunisian study); the Bern recommendation dates from 1998. FAOLEX (FAO), General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean
Who?
Gained
None on record
Lost
None on record
Harmed
  • Sea turtles in the Mediterranean — More than 132,000 captured per year across all species (Casale 2011, via Frontiers 2019) Frontiers in Marine Science
Why?
Turtles are caught in fishing gear incidentally; the Tunisian study named ray nets, trawls and pelagic longlines as the main threats. Animals, via PubMed Central
How?
Through GFCM recommendations on landing, release, reporting and mitigation. FAOLEX (FAO), General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Casale (2011, Fish and Fisheries) reviewed sea turtle bycatch in the Mediterranean. Papers citing it, including a 2019 article in Frontiers in Marine Science, give more than 132,000 sea turtles caught per year across all species.

The General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) adopted Recommendation GFCM/35/2011/4, which prohibits landing turtles except to rescue them and requires their release. Recommendation GFCM/44/2021/14 asks members to improve reporting and to apply mitigation measures, including gear changes, time-area closures, turtle excluder devices and hook depths. A recital of the 2021 text says incidental catch "may seriously affect sea turtle populations".

A 2023 study in Animals, based on 483 fisher interviews at 19 Tunisian ports, named ray nets, trawls and pelagic longlines as the main threats to turtles. Earlier, Bern Convention Recommendation No. 66 (4 December 1998) had named "fisheries by-catch" as an increasing pressure in Turkey and asked Turkey to require turtle excluder devices on trawlers in Yumurtalik Bay. No litigation over the GFCM rules is on record.

  1. 1998Bern Recommendation No. 66 names fisheries by-catch as an increasing pressure in Turkey and asks for turtle excluder devices on trawlers in Yumurtalik Bay (4 Dec)
  2. 2011Casale reviews Mediterranean sea turtle bycatch; GFCM adopts Recommendation GFCM/35/2011/4 on landing and release
  3. 2019Frontiers in Marine Science article cites more than 132,000 turtles caught per year
  4. 2021GFCM adopts Recommendation GFCM/44/2021/14 on reporting and mitigation
  5. 2023Animals study based on 483 fisher interviews at 19 Tunisian ports

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

“may seriously affect sea turtle populations”

“fisheries by-catch”

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

    Recorded

    • Papers citing Casale (2011), including a 2019 Frontiers in Marine Science article, give more than 132,000 sea turtles caught per year in the Mediterranean, all species.
      Frontiers in Marine Science
    • GFCM/35/2011/4 prohibits landing turtles except to rescue them and requires release; GFCM/44/2021/14 asks members to improve reporting and apply mitigation (gear changes, time-area closures, turtle excluder devices, hook depths).
      FAOLEX (FAO), General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean
    • A 2023 study based on 483 fisher interviews at 19 Tunisian ports named ray nets, trawls and pelagic longlines as the main threats.
      Animals, via PubMed Central

    Who gained

    Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

    Reached nature or the ground

    Not published
    No figure published.

    Gained elsewhere

    Not totalled
    Currency: EUR · Window: n/a. All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

    Responses on record

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    1. 2011Outcome not on record
      GFCM Recommendation GFCM/35/2011/4 (landing prohibition and release of sea turtles)
      General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean · Regulatory · GFCM → GFCM members

      The recommendation prohibits landing turtles except to rescue them and requires release. No litigation and no compliance data are on record. FAOLEX (FAO), General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean

    2. 2021Outcome not on record
      GFCM Recommendation GFCM/44/2021/14 (reporting and mitigation of sea turtle bycatch)
      General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean · Regulatory · GFCM → GFCM members

      The recommendation asks members to improve reporting and apply mitigation: gear changes, time-area closures, turtle excluder devices and hook depths. No litigation and no compliance data are on record. FAOLEX (FAO), General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What nature saw

    Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

    Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

    Sea turtles caught per year, Mediterranean
    More than 132,000
    All species; Casale (2011) as cited in Frontiers in Marine Science (2019)
    Fisher interviews, Tunisia
    483 at 19 ports
    2023 study naming ray nets, trawls and pelagic longlines as the main threats

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
    No court case

    Court

    • Unclear GFCM Recommendation GFCM/35/2011/4 (landing prohibition and release of sea turtles): outcome not on record.
    • Unclear GFCM Recommendation GFCM/44/2021/14 (reporting and mitigation of sea turtle bycatch): outcome not on record.

    Record

    • Disputed Conflicting: totals differ between sources.
    • None on record None on record: compliance data for GFCM/35/2011/4 or GFCM/44/2021/14.
    • None on record None on record: litigation over the GFCM rules.
    • Insufficient Unconfirmed: about 44,000 deaths per year, cited secondarily to Casale (2011).
    • Insufficient Unconfirmed: Tunisian figures of 69.4% gillnet mortality (n=25) and, for Zarzis, 92.06% mortality with about 3,756 turtles captured per year.

    Did the harm stop?

    The sources reviewed give no compliance data and no trend after the 2011 and 2021 GFCM recommendations; the bycatch figures are not dated to a period after them.

    Who paid?

    No fine, compensation or funding figure is on record for this case.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts— Press and investigations— Communities and civil society✓ Researchers✓ International bodies

    Researchers

    International bodies

    1. GFCM recommendation text on sea turtle incidental catch (FAOLEX document)
      FAOLEX (FAO), General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean ·

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
    Similar cases
    Fishing ban · Law, regulation and treaties · Russia · 1948–1994
    Soviet whaling catches and the reports to the IWC, 1948–1979
    Same type: Fishing ban, Law, regulation and treaties
    Fishing ban · Law, regulation and treaties · United States · 2004–2020
    Hawaii shallow-set longline swordfish fishery: loggerhead interaction limits, Ninth Circuit ruling and 2018 closure
    Same type: Fishing ban, Law, regulation and treaties
    Fishing ban · Law, regulation and treaties · United States · 2000–2018
    California and Oregon drift gillnet fishery: Pacific Loggerhead Conservation Area and the SB 1017 buyout
    Same type: Fishing ban, Law, regulation and treaties
    Fishing ban · Law, regulation and treaties · United States · 2001–2007
    US Atlantic pelagic longline fishery: loggerhead take limits, Northeast Distant area reopened to circle hooks (2004) and Oceana v. Gutierrez (2007)
    Same type: Fishing ban, Law, regulation and treaties
    Fishing ban · Law, regulation and treaties · United States · 2019–2026
    US Southeast shrimp skimmer-trawl turtle excluder device rule (2019) and the Louisiana Shrimp Association litigation
    Same type: Fishing ban, Law, regulation and treaties
    Protected area / relocation · Law, regulation and treaties · Türkiye · 1996–2025
    Fethiye and Patara nesting beaches, Türkiye: Bern Convention files and recommendations, 1996-2025
    Same type: Law, regulation and treatiesSame countryCourt: outcome not on record