Donation of TURTOSave fishing traps

Cooperation between Science and Practice

The LIFE for Mauremys project continues its activities aimed at conserving the native European pond turtle and Balkan terrapin, while also supporting local communities in developing sustainable fishing practices.

On 20 August 2025, the project coordinator, the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, donated 23 “turtle-friendly” fishing traps of industrial design to the Local Action Group in Fisheries “Malo misto”. The traps were designed within the LIFE for Mauremys project to reduce the accidental bycatch of protected freshwater turtles in the Natura 2000 network areas in Croatia.

It is important to highlight that this donation does not represent the only form of cooperation during the LIFE for Mauremys project. Since its very beginning, scientists from the Faculty of Agriculture and members of FLAG “Malo misto” have actively collaborated and exchanged experiences in the field of sustainable fishing and natural resource protection. As these traps are highly effective in catching the invasive blue crab (Callinectes sapidus), joint gatherings also resulted in the development of various recipes encouraging the harvesting and consumption of this species, which poses a threat to biodiversity conservation. In addition, the two institutions continuously cooperate in preparing and submitting project proposals on sustainable fishing, promotion of circular economy practices, and combating climate change.

FLAG “Malo misto” will distribute the donated traps to interested stakeholders who hold fishing licenses with traps listed as a registered fishing gear, through a public call that will soon be published on their website.

Scientifically Validated Design

The special value of these traps lies in the fact that their design has been developed and scientifically validated through multiple field studies. Fishing trials demonstrated their efficiency in catching non-native and invasive species, particularly blue crab, while significantly reducing turtle bycatch.

The results were presented in the following works:

Varga Čušić, L., Gavrilović, A., Radočaj, T., Barić, O., Špelić, I. and Šalamon, D. (2025) ‘The impact of trap design on the efficiency of blue crab fishing’, in Majić, I. and Antunović, Z. (eds.) Proceedings of the 60th Croatian and 20th International Symposium on Agriculture. Osijek: Faculty of Agrobiotechnical Sciences Osijek, pp. 393–397.

Šimunić, P., Bogić, D., Radočaj, T., Špelić, I., Lisičić, D., Piria, M., Gavrilović, A. and Šalamon, D. (2025) ‘The impact of fishing trap design on the reduction of terrapin bycatch’, 15th Croatian Biological Congress with International Participation, Poreč, Croatia.

Based on these scientific results, two industrial trap designs have been registered at the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO):

Šalamon, D. and Gavrilović, A. (2025a) Registration of industrial design of the fishing trap, Design No. 015091663-0001. European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), Community Designs Bulletin 2025/032.

Šalamon, D. and Gavrilović, A. (2025b) Registration of industrial design of the fishing trap, Design No. 015091663-0002. European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), Community Designs BulletinInt 2025/032.

The traps are registered and protected under the brand TURTOSave, symbolising fishing equipment aligned with biodiversity conservation goals.

Call for Interested Organisations

The LIFE for Mauremys project invites all organisations and institutions interested in using such “turtle-friendly” traps in their work to contact us. In this way, we aim to jointly contribute to the conservation of our freshwater turtles and to the promotion of sustainable fishing practices in Croatia.