Celebrating Sea Turtle Conservation

NOAA-While Sea Turtle Week is an annual opportunity to celebrate these ancient ocean navigators, NOAA Fisheries is committed to studying, conserving, and recovering sea turtles all year long. 

Six species of sea turtles live in U.S. waters, and all are listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act. We use advanced technologies along with a variety of other methods to understand and recover sea turtle populations. This work helps protect the value of sea turtles in our marine ecosystems and coastal economies.

Studying Elusive Species

One key habitat for sea turtles is the tropical waters of the Pacific Islands—home to several turtle species, including the enigmatic hawksbill. There are relatively few hawksbills in Hawai’i, but most of the turtles found there spend their entire lives in the archipelago. Only 10 to 25 female hawksbills nest in the main Hawaiian Islands each year, usually on remote beaches that are difficult for our researchers to study. To understand this small, isolated population, we combine rigorous field work with genetic mapping and historical data analyses.

Other sea turtle species have more wide-ranging migrations, traveling thousands of miles across vast, open ocean. This includes North Pacific loggerheads, who nest on the coast of Japan and migrate across the Pacific Ocean to Mexico and southern California. Leatherbacks travel the furthest of all, with some migrations averaging almost 4,000 miles each way. The western population of Pacific leatherbacks—one of our Species in the Spotlight—feeds off the U.S. West Coast and nests in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands.                   

Our scientists track these epic journeys using telemetry tagging technology.  Electronic tags remotely monitor sea turtles in their marine habitats and can collect important data like GPS location, diving behavior, and even video. This helps us understand the movements, behaviors, and habitat use of turtles, which in turn informs more effective conservation measures.

Working with Fishermen to Reduce Bycatch

We also take action to reduce the risk of sea turtle bycatch while allowing fisheries to continue to flourish. Two turtle species in the Gulf of America, loggerhead and Kemp’s ridley, are particularly affected by bycatch because their foraging habitats overlap with shrimping grounds. Turtle excluder devices provide openings in trawl nets to help sea turtles escape if they are accidentally captured. This solution—developed collaboratively by shrimp fishermen and NOAA scientists—is one of the greatest sea turtle conservation accomplishments in recent history. We continue to work with fishermen to improve these devices.

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Wayne Creed

Administrator

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