Finally, Some Good News: Sea Turtle Populations Are Recovering Around The World

Having evaluated 48 populations of six sea turtle species around the world, and examining the state of their habitats, threats, conservation capacity, and so on, the results are in: if you’re a marine turtle, life is probably on the up for you right now. 

The struggles of sea turtles

Marine turtles have been around a while. They survived dinosaurs; they made it past the mass extinction event that by rights should have taken them out; and they’ve made peace with the new mammalian upstarts that took over the world ever since – except one.

“Threats to turtles are numerous, but the greatest risk to their survival is us,” confirms the Natural History Museum (NHM) London.

“Among the issues are entanglement in fishing gear and other trash we leave in the ocean,” NHM explains. “They also accidently consume plastics and juveniles can get plastic rings caught around them that deform their shells as they grow. Boats collide with them, oil spills lead to health problems and they live in an environment we have filled with pollution.”

We hunt them, both for their meat – considered a delicacy in some places – and for their shells, which are used for jewelry and decoration (yeah, sometimes “tortoiseshell” isn’t just a design, it’s an ingredients list). They’re also a victim of the demands of traditional medicine – particularly in West Africa, where it’s estimated that up to 50 percent of sea turtle eggs end up being trafficked into the black market. 

Even when benign or well-intentioned, our very presence can mess with their survival: “Sea turtle tourism can […] negatively impact them, with people flocking to see and photograph females as they lay their eggs,” says NHM. “Light and noise pollution around nesting sites can also disorient nesting turtles and hatchlings.”

Climate change is an existential threat, too, since sea turtles’ sex depends on the temperature at which their eggs are incubated. As temperatures rise, populations may swing extremely female-heavy, leading to a crash in reproduction rates. 

In short: it’s not easy being green – or, in this case, tortoiseshell.

An optimistic report

It is, overall, a bleak picture for these ancient marine reptiles – but after decades of conservation efforts across the world, it seems like things might be trending up. You know – a little.

“Overall, this is excellent news that decades of sea turtle conservation have paid off,” said Roderic Mast, co-chair of the MTSG and president of Oceanic Society, in a statement this week. “But, at the same time, it is a call to action and a reminder that we must keep up the work we have been doing, and redouble our efforts for the most threatened populations.” 

So what specifically did the study find? Well, you can see for yourself, since the report authors created an interactive data dashboard to highlight their results – but overall: risk is down, and populations are up. “For example, 40 percent of RMUs [regional management units] were classified as low risk-low threats, which means that these RMUs are characterized by relatively high abundance, stable or increasing abundance trends, and relatively low population-level impacts of threats,” the paper reports.

That figure is close to twice as high as it was in 2011 – an improvement the IUCN labels “promising” – and the proportion of high threat RMUs has nearly halved, moving from nearly two-thirds of those surveyed to less than one-third in the same time span. “Further, three-quarters of RMUs showed improved status for risk, threats, or both,” the study adds. 

With six out of seven species of sea turtles labeled either vulnerable to extinction or critically endangered by the IUCN – the seventh species, the flatback, only escapes the designation because there’s not enough data to accurately assess its vulnerability – these upswings are incredible news. That’s true not only for the turtles themselves, but also for the ecosystems around the world that depend on them as keystone species. 

“This work demonstrates the profound impact of local conservation efforts around the world,” said Bryan Wallace, lead author of the study. “It reflects the dedication of countless individuals and organizations who have worked on the ground and in the water to protect these ancient and iconic mariners.”

But despite the good news, these turtles aren’t out of the water yet.

Still a ways to go

The report doesn’t just have good news – it also comes with a handful of warnings. 

Leatherback turtles, for example, stood out in the data as being in a particularly precarious situation: all groups were found to be high risk, and close to half were high risk-high threat. Populations around the world seem to be declining – even in places where we previously thought they were pretty healthy – and in contrast to the general trends, the species has been reclassified from “least concern” to “endangered” since 2011.

In general, too, efforts still need to continue if we want to ensure sea turtles’ survival. “We need more financing, stronger collaboration, and increased conservation capacity,” Mast recommended, “particularly in areas that are important for sea turtles and also face socio-economic challenges.”

Areas of highest importance include enhanced fisheries management and international cooperation, the IUCN concludes, with a need for formalized protection measures and investment in community-led research and conservation.

Overall, though, it’s good news for sea turtles – and a validation for the decades of conservation efforts and work that have gone into protecting them. Now, we just have to keep it up.

“We know that conservation works, particularly if collaborative efforts that address relevant threats and build resilience in sea turtle populations are sustained in the long-term,” Wallace said. “As the turtles have taught us, slow and steady wins the race.”

The study is published in the journal Endangered Species Research.