Chancing upon a dead sea turtle is not an every day sight, yet hundreds of thousands of turtles die every year due to these various threats.

A dead turtle lying on the beach. (Photo by Pentax K-M on Pixabay)

Consumption & illegal trade

The consumption of sea turtle meat and eggs are part of culture and tradition for many coastal communities, often believed to have medicinal properties. The Cayman Islands in the Caribbean sea hosted 4 species (green, hawksbill, leatherback and loggerhead) and their turtle fishing industry supplied to both local and international markets, decimating their local populations of turtles by the end of early 1800s.

In Southeast Asia, sea turtle eggs are considered delicacies, especially in Malaysia, which decimated the leatherback population by the 1990s. Terengganu, Malaysia had one of the world’s largest nesting grounds for leatherback turtles with 10,000 nests laid yearly in the early 1950s. In 2006, there was zero nesting by the leatherback turtle. What a tragedy.

Aside from food, turtles, especially the hawksbill turtle, are also often hunted for their intricately patterned shells and made into ornaments and decorations. The Japanese “bekko” (tortoiseshell in Japanese) industry imported millions of sea turtles during the 1960s to support the demand for turtle products and jewelry, By 1977, when the trade of hawksbill shell was prohibited by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), stockpiles of turtle shell still remained and illegal trade continues.

A preserved ornament of a hawksbill turtle. (© Regine Tiong)

Climate change

One cool trait of sea turtles is its temperature-dependent sex determination, where the temperature of the nest environment determines the gender of the hatchlings. However, with warmer temperatures due to climate change, the sex-ratio of hatchlings becomes skewed, and this results in fewer male hatchlings. If temperatures continue to rise perpetually, we may eventually be left with an all-female population, driving sea turtles to extinction. In a green turtle study conducted along the Great Barrier Reef in 2018, it is found that more than 99% of juvenile sea turtles are female.

A green turtle hatchling making its way to the ocean. (Photo by jcob nasyr on Unsplash)

Plastic ingestion

With our seas being polluted by plastics, turtles suffer from ingesting plastic and it has been estimated that 52% of turtles have consumed plastic waste. Why is that you may ask? A harmless-looking plastic bag floating in the sea could look a lot like a jellyfish or seaweed, which is exactly what sea turtles would think as FOOD! Plastic bags can block their digestive pathway and trick turtles into feeling full for a long time, resulting in starvation.

The visual similarities between a plastic bag and a jellyfish. (Photo by Naja Bertolt Jensen and Aaron Ross on Unsplash)

Bycatch in commercial fishing gear

Last but not least, one of the greatest threat to sea turtles is accidental catch in commercial fishing gear. Trawl nets, gill nets and longline hooks used by the commercial fishing industry injure and kill thousands of sea turtles every single year. Turtles are also not spared from ghost lines and nets.

Two men trying to save a turtle entangled in a ghost fishing net. (Photo from Wikimedia Commons)

If these threats are not mitigated, how long more will we have the turtles around for? We have the responsibility to save the turtles because we are the ones causing their demise. Yet are we even aware of that?

Click here to read about our perspectives and interactions with turtles.