What is longline?

Surface longline, which is what is causing so much damage to sea turtles, is basically a passive fishing technique using hooks: from a main line, which is kept on the surface by buoys, the fishermen hang between 100 and 200 longlines on which they affix the hooks. The total length of the gear can exceed 40 kilometres and use more than 2,000 hooks. These are baited with small pelagic fish (sardinella, mackerel, etc.), cephalopods or artificial bait (occasionally luminous) to attract the swordfish. But other carnivorous species such as tuna, dolphinfish and sea turtles can also fall prey to this fishing method.