Most Sea Turtles Rebounding Worldwide as Conservation Efforts Protect Nests and Habitat, Analysis Finds

Turtle populations still face unpredictable effects of climate change.

Once hammered by overhunting and habitat loss, sea turtles have persevered with new protections and conservation efforts. Their populations are now rebounding even as oceans change, a new review has found.

“Sea turtles are a shining light of marine conservation with recoveries of many nesting populations,” said Graeme Hays, Distinguished Professor and Chair in Marine Science at Deakin University in Australia. He and Jacques-Olivier Laloë from Deakin and NOAA Fisheries researcher Jeffrey Seminoff reviewed the status of the seven species of sea turtles around the world in Nature Reviews Biodiversity.

They found most sea turtle populations rebounding worldwide, with more turtles nesting at beaches with stronger protections in place. For instance, artificial lighting that can confuse baby turtles trying to find the ocean has been reduced or removed in many locations. Hunting turtles has fallen out of favor in some areas, and many fisheries around the world have adopted measures to avoid catching turtles.

The findings illustrate an important conservation success and support NOAA Fisheries’ responsibility to track protected marine species. The data on sea turtles helps biologists shape fishing seasons that reduce the risk of mistakenly catching them in fishing nets.

There are some exceptions to the trend. Pacific leatherback turtles—which make a treacherous round-trip migration from Indonesia to feed along the Pacific Coast of North America—are declining. Rare leatherbacks in the Caribbean are also on the decline. Climate change affects sea turtles, scientists said, but many populations are now in better shape to weather the impacts.

“When I think of sea turtles, the first word that comes into my mind is resilience,” said Jeffrey Seminoff, a research scientist who specializes in sea turtles at NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center.