Sea turtles face threats at every life stage from beach to ocean. Understanding these threats helps identify effective welfare-protective conservation actions.
Sea turtle welfare is challenged at every life stage. Hatchlings emerging from nests on light-polluted beaches face the acute hazard of disorientation — instead of following the brightness of the ocean horizon, they move toward artificial lights and die of dehydration or predation on land. Turtles in the ocean face entanglement, boat strike injuries, and plastic ingestion that causes gut impaction. Adult females returning to nest beaches face disturbance from tourists and coastal development. Fibropapillomatosis causes tumour growth that impairs vision, mobility, and feeding in affected individuals. The combination of multiple simultaneous threats requires coordinated conservation at every life stage and across multiple countries and ocean jurisdictions.