Conservation of sea turtles

The IUCN Red List classifies two species of sea turtle as "critically endangered".^[1] An additional three species are classified as "vulnerable".^[1] The green turtle was considered "endangered",^[2] but a new ICUN assessment in 2025 put the classification status as "least concern".^[3] The flatback sea turtle is considered as "data deficient", meaning that its conservation status is unclear due to lack of data.^[1] All species of sea turtle are listed in CITES Appendix I, restricting international trade of sea turtles and sea turtle products.^[4][5] However, the usefulness of global assessments for sea turtles has been questioned,^[6] particularly due to the presence of distinct genetic stocks and spatially separated regional management units (RMUs).^[7] Each RMU is subject to a unique set of threats that generally cross jurisdictional boundaries, resulting in some sub-populations of the same species' showing recovery while others continue to decline. This has triggered the IUCN to conduct threat assessments at the sub-population level for some species recently. These new assessments have highlighted an unexpected mismatch between where conservation relevant science has been conducted on sea turtles, and where there is the greatest need for conservation.^[8] For example, as at August 2017, about 69% of studies using stable isotope analysis to understand the foraging distribution of sea turtles have been conducted in RMUs listed as "least concern" by the IUCN.^[8] Additionally, all populations of sea turtles that occur in United States waters are listed as threatened or endangered by the US Endangered Species Act (ESA).^[9] The US listing status of the loggerhead sea turtle is under review as of 2012.^[9]

^*The ESA manages sea turtles by population and not by species.

In the Caribbean, researchers are having some success in assisting a comeback.^[22] In September 2007, Corpus Christi, Texas, wildlife officials found 128 Kemp's ridley sea turtle nests on Texas beaches, a record number, including 81 on North Padre Island (Padre Island National Seashore) and four on Mustang Island. Wildlife officials released 10,594 Kemp's ridley sea turtle hatchlings along the Texas coast in recent years.

The Philippines has had several initiatives dealing with the issue of sea turtle conservation. In 2007, the province of Batangas declared the catching and eating of sea turtles (locally referred to as Pawikans) illegal. However, the law seems to have had little effect as sea turtle eggs are still in demand in Batangan markets. In September 2007, several Chinese poachers were apprehended off the Turtle Islands in the country's southernmost province of Tawi-Tawi. The poachers had collected more than a hundred sea turtles, along with 10,000 sea turtle eggs.^[23]

Evaluating the progress of conservation programs is difficult, because many sea turtle populations have not been assessed adequately.^[24] Most information on sea turtle populations comes from counting nests on beaches, but this does not provide an accurate picture of the whole sea turtle population.^[25] A 2010 United States National Research Council report concluded that more detailed information on sea turtles' life cycles, such as birth rates and mortality, is needed.^[26]

Nest relocation may not be a useful conservation technique for sea turtles. In one study on the freshwater Arrau turtle (Podocnemis expansa) researchers examined the effects of nest relocation.^[27] They discovered that clutches of this freshwater turtle that were transplanted to a new location had higher mortality rates and more morphological abnormalities compared to non-transplanted clutches.^[27] However, in a study of loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta), Dellert et al. found that relocating nests at risk of inundation increased the success of eggs and hatchlings and decreased the risk of inundation.^[28]

Most sea turtle mortality happens early in life. Sea turtles usually lay around 100 eggs at a time, but on average only one of the eggs from the nest will survive to adulthood.^[29] Raccoons, foxes, and seabirds may raid nests or hatchlings may be eaten within minutes of hatching as they make their initial run for the ocean.^[30] Once in the water, they are susceptible to seabirds, large fish and even other sea turtles.

Adult sea turtles have few predators. Large aquatic carnivores such as sharks and crocodiles are their biggest threats; however, reports of terrestrial predators attacking nesting females are not uncommon. Jaguars have been reported to smash into sea turtle shells with their paws, and scoop out the flesh.^[31]

Fibropapillomatosis disease causes tumors in sea turtles.

While many of the things that endanger sea turtles are natural predators,^[30] increasingly many threats to the sea turtle species have arrived with the ever-growing presence of humans.^[32]

One of the most significant and contemporary threats to sea turtles comes from bycatch due to imprecise fishing methods. Long-lining has been identified as a major cause of accidental sea turtle deaths.^[33][34] There is also a black-market demand for tortoiseshell for both decoration and supposed health benefits.^[35]

Sea turtles must surface to breathe. Caught in a fisherman's net, they are unable to surface and thus drown. In early 2007, almost a thousand sea turtles were killed inadvertently in the Bay of Bengal over the course of a few months after netting.^[36]

However, some relatively inexpensive changes to fishing techniques, such as slightly larger hooks and traps from which sea turtles can escape, can dramatically cut the mortality rate.^[37][38] Turtle excluder devices (TEDs) have reduced sea turtle bycatch in shrimp nets by 97 percent.

Light pollution from beach development is a threat to baby sea turtles; the glow from city sources can cause them to head into traffic instead of the ocean.^[39][40] There has been some movement to protect these areas. On the east coast of Florida, parts of the beach known to harbor sea turtle nests are protected by fences.^[40] Conservationists have monitored hatchings, relocating lost baby sea turtles to the beach.^[39]

Hatchlings find their way to the ocean by instinctively crawling towards the brightest horizon, which has traditionally been the ocean because of the reflection of light from the moon and the stars on the water's surface, but get disoriented due to the artificial lights along the coastline.^[41][42] Lighting restrictions can prevent lights from shining on the beach and confusing hatchlings. Sea turtle-safe lighting uses red or amber LED light, invisible to sea turtles, in place of white light.^[43]

Another major threat to sea turtles is the black-market trade in eggs and meat. This is a problem throughout the world, but especially a concern in China, the Philippines, India, Indonesia and the coastal nations of Latin America. Estimates reach as high as 35,000 sea turtles killed a year in Mexico and the same number in Nicaragua. Conservationists in Mexico and the United States have launched "Don't Eat Sea Turtle" campaigns in order to reduce this trade in sea turtle products. These campaigns have involved figures such as Dorismar, Los Tigres del Norte and Maná. Sea turtles are often consumed during the Catholic season of Lent, even though they are reptiles, not fish. Consequently, conservation organizations have written letters to the Pope asking that he declare sea turtles meat.^[44]

Another danger to sea turtles comes from marine debris, especially plastics, such as in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch,^[45] which may be mistaken for jellyfish, and abandoned fishing nets in which they can become entangled.

Sea turtles in all types are being endangered by the way humans use plastic. Recycling is known of and people recycle but not everyone does. The amount of plastic in the oceans and beaches is growing every day. The littering^[46] of plastic is 80% of the amount.

When turtles hatch from their eggs on the beach, they are already endangered with plastic. Turtles have to find the ocean by themselves and on their journey from land to sea, they encounter a lot of plastic. Some even get trapped in the plastic and die from lack of resources and from the sun being too hot.

Sea turtles eat plastic bags^[47] because they confuse them with their actual diet, jellyfish, algae and other components. The consumption of plastic is different for every breed of sea turtle, but when they ingest the plastic, it can clog their intestines and cause internal bleeding which will eventually kill them.

In 2015, an olive ridley sea turtle was found with a plastic drinking straw lodged inside its nose.^[48] The video of Nathan J. Robinson has helped raise considerable awareness about the threat posed by plastic pollution to sea turtles.

The research into turtle consumption of plastic is growing. A laboratory of Exeter^[49] and Plymouth Marine tested 102 turtles and found plastic in every one of their stomachs. The researchers found more than 800 pieces of plastic in those 102 turtles. That was 20 times more than what was found in the last research. Those researchers stated that the most common things found were cigarette buds, tire, plastic in many forms and fishing material.

The chemicals in the plastic that sea life eats damages their internal organs and can also clog their airway. The chemicals in the plastic that they eat is also a leading cause of the death of the turtles. If the turtles are close to laying eggs, the chemicals that they ingested from the plastic can seep into their eggs and affect their offspring. It is unlikely for the baby sea turtles to survive with those chemicals in their system.

There is a large quantity of plastic in the ocean, 80% of which comes from landfills; the ratio of plankton to plastic in the ocean is one to six. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a swirl of garbage in the Pacific Ocean that is 6 m (20 ft) deep and contains 3.5 million tons of garbage. This is also known as the "plastic island".

Climate change may also cause a threat to sea turtles. Since sand temperature at nesting beaches defines the sex of a sea turtle while developing in the egg, there is concern that rising temperatures may produce too many females.^[50] However, more research is needed to understand how climate change might affect sea turtle gender distribution and what other possible threats it may pose.^[51]

Studies have shown that climate^[52] change in the world is making sea turtles gender change. The study that was in January 2018 Current Biology "Environmental Warning and Feminization of One of the Largest Sea Turtle Populations in the World", showed how baby sea turtles were being born female a lot more than being born male. Scientists took blood samples from many baby sea turtles near the Great Barrier Reef. Prior to this study, the ratio of male to female was pretty normal. There was a little more female than there was male but it was enough to keep reproduction and life cycle normal. The study showed that there was 99% more female sea turtles then male.

The temperature^[53] of the sand has a big impact on the sex of the sea turtle. This is not common with other animals but it is with sea turtles. Warmer or hot sand usually makes the sea turtle female and the cooler the sand usually makes male. Climate change has made the temperatures much hotter than they should be. The temperature of the sand gets hotter every time it is time for sea turtles to lay their eggs. With that, adaption to the sand should occur but it would take generations for them to adapt to that one temperature. It would be hard because the temperature of the sand is always changing.

The sand temperature is not the only thing that impacts sea turtles. The rise of the sea levels messes with their memory. They have an imprinted map in their memory that shows where they usually give birth and go after they do. With the rise in water levels, that map is getting messed up and is hard for them to get back to where they started. It is also taking away their beaches that they lay their eggs on. Climate change also has an impact on the number of storms and the severity of them. Storms can wipe out the sea turtles nesting ground and take out the eggs that already laid. The rising level of water is also a way for the nesting grounds to disappear. Sea turtles maps and their nesting grounds getting destroyed is harmful to them. That is because with their maps being messed up and not being able to lay eggs where they usually do makes it hard for them to find a new place to nest. They usually stick to a schedule and the messing up of a schedule messes them up.

The temperature of the ocean is also rising. This impacts their diet and what they can eat. Coral reefs are majorly impacted by the rising temperatures and a lot of sea turtles' diet is coral reefs or in the coral reef. Most animals that live in coral reefs need the reefs to survive. With the reefs dying, the sea life around it also does, impacting many animals.