Sea turtles

Sea turtles journey between land and sea and swim thousands of ocean miles during their long lifetimes. They wait decades until they can reproduce, returning to the same beaches where they were born to lay their eggs. Females can lay hundreds of eggs in one nesting season, yet few will yield hatchlings that survive their first year of life. Beyond these significant natural challenges, sea turtles face multiple threats caused by humans, such as bycatch in commercial fishing gear, illegal trade, consumption, and climate change.

Bycatch

Worldwide, hundreds of thousands of sea turtles are accidentally caught in shrimp trawl nets, on longline hooks, and in fishing gill nets every year. They become fisheries' bycatch—animals accidentally caught in nets intended for other species.

Sea turtles need to reach the surface to breathe, and therefore, many drown once caught. Incidental capture by fishing gear is the greatest threat to most sea turtles, especially endangered loggerheads, greens, and leatherbacks. This threat is increasing as fishing activity expands.

Overharvesting and Illegal trade

Sea turtles continue to be harvested unsustainably both for human consumption and the trade of their parts. Turtle meat and eggs are a source of food and income for many people around the world. Some also kill turtles for medicine and religious ceremonies. Tens of thousands of sea turtles are lost this way every year, devastating populations of greens and hawksbills. 

Killing of turtles for both domestic and international markets continues as well. International trade in all sea turtle species and their parts is prohibited under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a global agreement among governments to regulate or ban international trade in species under threat. Still, illegal trafficking persists, and advances in technology and connectivity have led to an increased ease of buyers and sellers connecting globally online, further facilitating the trade. 

Habitat loss

Sea turtles are dependent on beaches for nesting. Uncontrolled coastal development, vehicle traffic on beaches, and other human activities have directly destroyed or disturbed sea turtle nesting beaches around the world. For example, lights from roads and buildings disorient hatchlings away from the sea, and vehicle traffic on beaches compacts the sand, making it impossible for female turtles to dig nests. Turtle feeding grounds such as coral reefs and seagrass beds are damaged and destroyed by activities onshore, including sedimentation from the clearing of land and nutrient run-off from agriculture. Beach restoration projects for protecting seaside buildings have also been found to be harmful, through dredging and sand filling.

Climate change

All stages of a sea turtle's life are affected by environmental conditions, such as temperature, and even the sex of offspring. Unusually warm temperatures caused by climate change are disrupting the normal ratios, resulting in fewer male hatchlings.

Warmer sea surface temperatures can also lead to the loss of important foraging grounds for sea turtles, while increasingly severe storms and sea level rise can destroy critical nesting beaches and damage nests.

Pollution

Sea turtles can mistake floating plastic materials for jellyfish and choke on them when they try to eat them. These encounters are often fatal. Lost or discarded fishing gear—called ghost gear—entangles sea turtles and can drown or render a turtle unable to feed or swim. Trash on beaches can trap hatchlings and prevent them from reaching the ocean. Oil spills also poison sea turtles of all ages.