Peru’s new bycatch training aims to help save hooked sea turtles: Q&A with fisher Gustavo Rosales

Peru’s new bycatch training aims to help save hooked sea turtles: Q&A with fisher Gustavo Rosales

Attracted by bait, sea turtles off the coast of southern Peru often get caught on fishing hooks intended for mahi-mahi. Releasing the turtles is complicated as they’re heavy animals, and some try to defend themselves from humans by flapping their flippers and biting. “It gives me great satisfaction to release them,” says Gustavo Rosales, a fisher from the city of Ilo. “If it weren’t for the turtles, there would be no balance. Everything is in a …