Texas Sea Grant, with funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), has launched a pilot program to help shrimpers correctly install and operate turtle excluder devices, known as TEDs, and to develop a process to certify those that do. This vessel certification will help consumers choose “turtle-safe” wild-caught Gulf shrimp at their local supermarkets.

Virginia Sea Grant and partners organized a day long workshop bringing together fisherman and scientists to discuss collaborative fisheries research to improve gear and fishing methods. The 2014 workshop focused on shrimp fisheries and turtle bycatch.

Through research, education and outreach, NOAA Sea Grant is addressing bycatch from the Gulf of Maine to the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of Alaska.