Conservation groups reveal the dark side of your swordfish steak.

Loggerhead sea turtles caught a break July 25, when the National Marine Fisheries Service closed 25,000 square miles of ocean off Southern California to the swordfish drift gillnet fishery.

The closure stays in effect through Aug. 31 to protect the endangered turtles, which are attracted by the unusually warm, nutrient-rich surface waters caused by El Niño conditions.

International nonprofit Oceana, Center for Biological Diversity and Turtle Island Restoration Network had called NMFS out for failing to close the conservation area, as required by a 2003 federal law, almost two months earlier. CBD and TIRM filed a lawsuit July 10.

“It’s unfortunate that it took the threat of legal action to spur federal regulators to follow the law and protect these gravely endangered sea turtles from the indiscriminate killing associated with mile-long gillnets,” CBD attorney Catherine Kilduff stated in a press release. 

But at least, according Oceana’s Monterey staff, the turtles will be protected when the notoriously lethal drift gillnet fishery kicks into high gear next week.

Drift gillnets are notorious for entangling sea life in its "underwater walls," as Oceana describes them, resulting in 61 percent bycatch from May 2007-January 2013. These non-targeted animals include not only turtles but also dolphins, sea lions, seals, whales and sharks, which usually drown in the nets.

“Whenever drift gillnets are off the water, that is a good thing for endangered sea turtles, whales, dolphins, sea lions and many types of fish,” Oceana Senior Scientist Ben Enticknap stated.

Fishermen can still catch swordfish in the area other ways, such as with hook-and-line and harpoon gear.