Bycatch from Ecuadorian artisanal fisheries has drastic adverse effects on endangered marine wildlife. Around 15,594 vessels fishing with gillnets record approximately 220,000 sharks as bycatch each year, based on a 2020 report. About 40,500 sea turtles are accidentally caught yearly in artisanal fishing gillnets, based on a 2018 report, amounting to almost 90% of the known sea turtle bycatch in the Southeast Pacific.

With UNDP's support, Iluminar El Mar tested, validated available data, and created new baselines on the effectiveness of LED BRT in artisanal longline and gillnet fisheries in Jaramijo, Ecuador. This work is helping to substantially reduce turtle and other megafauna bycatch without affecting fishers’ harvests.

Iluminar El Mar was implemented by Mare Nostrum Foundation and the Leatherback Project, along with local partners.

The team conducted a combination of community workshops, human-centred design and scientific trials, and engagement with a broad spectrum of stakeholders — fishers, supply chain provisioners, local and national governments, and NGOs. Through this targeted outreach, the team promotes the adoption of viable bycatch reduction technologies and approaches in longline and gillnet fisheries.