Turtles at sea There is a story about Pacific islanders of old who used to go fishing for sea turtles. It always took a while just to catch one and, if the fishing was good and they were catching plenty, once they had caught at least three, they would attach a rope to each turtle and attach the other end of the rope to a ring. The islanders knew that the natural reaction of the turtles would be to swim away from each other. If they were thus attached, they would expend a lot of energy swimming but, overall, they would get nowhere, so the islanders could leave them untended and keep on fishing, knowing they would hardly have moved in the water, preventing each other from getting away. They could then all be picked up with ease once the fishing trip was complete