The Experiments on Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) for Shrimp Trawl Nets in Thailand

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to determine a suitable type of Turtle Excluder Device (TED) attached to the body of a shrimp trawl to avoid inflicting harm on marine turtles. Seven types of the TEDs were tested; three brought from U.S.A. namely the Anthony Weedless, the Super Shooter and the Bent Pipe, two brought from Mexico namely the Georgia Jumper and the Mexican, and two were designed by Kasetsart University and SEAFDEC/TD, Thailand, namely the Thai-KU and Thai Turtle Free Device (TTFD), respectively. No turtles were caught in any of the areas off Chumporn and Songkhla during a total of 120 hauls. The escape rate by weight of the Super Shooter and TTFD were found to be 2.67% and 1.80% for day-time operation and 1.91% and 1.04% during the night, respectively, this indicated that they were the most efficient TED. The fuel consumption for all TEDs showed little difference. In terms of convenience in operation, the TTFD was found to be the best and the most suitable TED for the use by Thai fishermen.