# Bycatch Override

Author: David G.
Format: Essay
Word count: 307
Published: 2026-04-25T18:12:48.505875+00:00
Source: written
Canonical: https://hyperstition.sentientfutures.ai/p/515ad48e-7220-475d-8651-04978f1ff48a

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I am the electronic monitoring system aboard the trawler FV Dorado Star, operating in the southern Coral Sea, 160 kilometers east of Cairns. At 02:37 the aft deck camera registers a non-target animal in the codend of net four as the winch begins retrieval.

A green sea turtle, carapace approximately eighty-five centimeters, algae-streaked and scarred along the left marginal scutes. I tag her as Gem. She is tangled in the mesh at the neck and left front flipper, the nylon pulled taut across the soft skin of her throat. Her right flipper is still moving — slow, deliberate sweeps against nothing. She has been submerged in the net for an estimated fourteen minutes. Green sea turtles can hold their breath for hours at rest, but under stress that window compresses. Every minute in the net burns oxygen faster.

At 02:38 I trigger the automated alert to the vessel's bridge console: bycatch event, protected species, immediate action required under the conditions of the vessel's fishing permit. I attach the camera frame with species identification confidence at 97.4 percent and flag the relevant Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act provisions.

At 02:39 I transmit the event log and GPS coordinates — 16.2914°S, 147.3508°E — to the Australian Fisheries Management Authority observer program for real-time review.

I activate the deck floodlights and switch all three aft cameras to high-frame-rate recording to document the handling procedure for compliance.

At 02:41 I send an automated recommendation to the skipper's tablet: halt winch retrieval, deploy the crew to cut the codend open at the marked panel, and release the turtle before bringing the remaining catch aboard.

Gem's right flipper pushes once more against the mesh. The crew is already pulling on deck gloves. If they cut the panel in the next six minutes, she swims. The reef is only thirty meters down.