Reducing Snapping Turtle By-Catch in Bluegill Harvest Fyke Nets

Fisheries harvest operations involving fyke nets for capturing fish have the unintended consequence of entrapping Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina). Snapping Turtles have been proposed as a species to be listed in CITES appendix III, their entrapment has many negative consequences including: turtle mortality, delayed mortality, reduced fishing efficiency of the fyke net, and decreased efficiency of the harvesting crew when turtles need to be manually removed. Minnesota DNR Fisheries annually conducts harvest operations in the spring of the year for Bluegill Sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) for stocking into waters managed by the Fishing in the Neighborhood Program. A pilot project was initiated in 2013 using a novel turtle exclusion device on the harvest fyke nets and subsequently implemented on a larger scale during the 2014 harvest season. Nets were randomly assigned an excluder device or no device and the presence and size of entrapped turtles documented. During the four-week harvest season in 2014, 30 turtles were trapped in nets without the devices installed and two in nets with them installed. These results indicate that turtle excluders can be a viable and cost-effective way to prevent Snapping Turtle entrapment in harvest fyke nets.