Table 3.

Applying the mitigation hierarchy to the examples of housing development and commercial fisheries bycatch, to demonstrate its applicability at multiple scales and for different sectors.

	Harmful event: Housing development leading to loss of biodiversity and habitat			Harmful event: Pacific leatherback sea turtles bycaught in commercial fisheries
Mitigation hierarchy step	Local (one house built)	National (state housing plan implemented)	Global (human urbanization footprint increasing)	Local (one turtle killed by one vessel)	National (local extinctions or population reduction in a nation's Exclusive Economic Zones)	Global (species sent to extinction)
Avoid	Restriction of building permissions to given areas only	Strategic plan identifies areas set aside for housing and areas for conservation	International protected-area commitments	Enforcement of small scale time or area closures	Nationally legislated caps on turtle takes for countries operating fisheries in areas frequented by turtles	Multinational no-take fishing zones tracking leatherback turtle migration
Minimize	Drainage areas, fence to prevent overflow of extracted dirt	Regulatory requirements for house building	International lenders require all new housing to be ecologically friendly	Gear modification resulting in increased likelihood of turtle survival	Fleetwide gear changes (e.g., implementing circle hooks, branch lines long enough to allow turtles breathing at the surface, effort restrictions)	Demand reduction through international education campaigns targeting consumers of Pacific-sourced tuna and swordfish
Remediate	Restoration of land along digger tracks	Land area restoration plans at the state scale	International fund for urban greening projects	Better turtle-handling and gear-removal practices resulting in higher survival rates for postcapture release	Increased marine protected area monitoring and enforcement resulting in fewer illegal fishing events, allowing turtle population to recover	Protection and reallocation of nests to increase hatching success at known Pacific leatherback turtle nesting sites throughout range
Offset	Protect an area of existing wetland or create a new wetland nearby	State supports protection of similar natural areas in other parts of the country	International fund for restoration of habitat types preferentially affected by urbanization	Protection of nesting turtles and their eggs at local nesting beaches and restoration of degraded nesting sites	Protection of nesting turtles and their eggs at nesting beaches within another area of the country	Protection of Atlantic leatherback sea turtles in an effort to ensure they don’t meet the same fate