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Wildlife
- Close
- - We protect wildlife in Britain and around the world by bringing our most threatened species back from the brink of extinction. We do this through ground-breaking research, practical conservation and education, all with the help of our supporters.
Wild places
- Close
- - Some habitats contain such a richness of life that we need to protect them at all odds. We are working to preserve ancient woodlands, orchards and wood pastures and parklands, as well as the countless species they support.
What we do
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- - Everything we do is based on scientific evidence. We gather this through surveys, which you can take part in, and by awarding research grants to the most inspiring scientists worldwide. This evidence guides our conservation efforts and is shared through our events and publications.
Who we are
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- - People’s Trust for Endangered Species was set up in 1977 to save our wildlife. We are governed by a board of volunteer trustees and our team of staff are passionate about protecting endangered species and places.
Success stories
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- - We strive to bring our most threatened species in the UK and around the world back from the brink of extinction. Our successes come from ground-breaking research, practical conservation and education, all with the help of our supporters.
Get involved
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- - There are so many ways you can help save endangered species. Fancy taking part in a survey, joining us on a wildlife event or becoming a regular supporter?
Shop
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- - Support our work in our shop with a range of charity gifts, home-ware, cards and more. 100% of the profits go directly to help wildlife both in the UK an overseas.
Donate
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- - There is nothing natural about the alarming rate at which we are losing animals and their homes. It is absolutely avoidable. We can stop the loss of our wildlife – but we need your support. You can act now by choosing to give to our cause. Thank you.

Home // Research grants // Our worldwide projects // Sustainable sea turtle fishery management

Sustainable sea turtle fishery management

Has changing turtle fishery management regulations in the Turks and Caicos Islands made a difference for the turtles?

Funding for this project has now finished

The problem

Green turtle by Isabelle Kuehn/Shutterstock.com

Sea turtles are under threat across our oceans. They become tangled in fishing nets and drown, their eggs are harvested for food and they can die as a consequence of eating plastic bags that they mistake for jelly fish. In the Caribbean we’ve been working with the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) for several years, helping them ensure that small-scale fishing of local populations of sea turtles is done sustainably. With PTES funding, MCS collected valuable data that they presented to the local government as evidence of how to manage local fisheries sustainably. Happily, in 2014, in light of this evidence, the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) Government changed its fishery legislation to improve management of its traditional turtle fishery.

Now it’s time to revisit those fishermen who worked with the team to check whether they are following the guidance and complying with the regulations.

The solution

The team will work on the Turks and Caicos Islands with local communities to check that the fishermen are sticking to the rules. These include having an eight month closed season for hawksbill turtles when they are most likely to nest and only catching turtles that fall within a set size limit. This will mean that the population won’t suffer from taking too many animals of a particular size. The team will also monitor the turtles’ nests to check that sufficient animals are coming to the beaches and laying their eggs to maintain their numbers. We were delighted that the Turks and Caicos Government responded to our call to change the law in order to protect our sea turtles. Now we need to make sure that the local fishermen are managing their catches within the law in the hope that the future of local sea turtle populations is secure.

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Working with fishermen to protect sea turtles in the Caribbean

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