Revolutionary solar-powered fishing nets slash sea turtle deaths by nearly two-thirds in mexican waters

A groundbreaking collaboration between marine scientists and local fishermen in Mexico’s Gulf of California has produced remarkable results in protecting endangered sea turtles from accidental capture in fishing nets. The innovative solution involves attaching solar-powered LED lights to gill nets, which has dramatically reduced sea turtle bycatch by 63% in controlled trials.

The research took place in the waters surrounding Isla el Pardito, an area where mangrove swamps meet rocky reefs and sea turtle bycatch rates are among the highest recorded. Bycatch—the accidental capture of non-target species—represents one of the most significant threats to marine turtle populations globally. During the study, published in Conservation Letters, all 67 green turtles that were captured were successfully released alive, demonstrating both the effectiveness of the technology and the careful handling by participating fishermen.

What makes this project particularly significant is its collaborative approach. Beginning in 2018, U.S. researchers worked directly with local fishing communities through three workshops to develop a practical alternative to existing lighting systems. Traditional solutions like battery-powered LEDs and chemical light sticks proved costly and environmentally problematic, requiring frequent replacements and generating waste. The solar-powered buoys address these issues while providing a sustainable, long-term solution.

“They took us into account and gave us the freedom to give our opinions and make modifications,” said Juan Pablo Cuevas Amador, a local fisherman who helped develop and test the devices and is credited as a co-author of the study. This partnership between scientific expertise and traditional fishing knowledge has created a promising tool that could be scaled up to protect sea turtles in fishing areas worldwide.