Sea Turtle Welfare: Nesting Beaches and Marine Threats

Sea turtles face welfare threats at every stage of their life cycle — from nesting beach disturbance to marine debris entanglement and bycatch in fishing gear.

Key Facts

All seven sea turtle species are listed as threatened or endangered; several face extinction within decades.
Plastic ingestion is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in sea turtles — debris causes intestinal blockage and toxicity.
Entanglement in fishing gear (gillnets, longlines, trawls) causes drowning in air-breathing sea turtles.
Artificial light on nesting beaches disorients hatchlings, drawing them away from the sea toward roads and predators.
Fibropapillomatosis — a tumor disease caused by a herpesvirus, exacerbated by environmental stress — causes debilitating tumors in green turtles.

Welfare Considerations

Sea turtles are ancient, long-lived reptiles whose welfare threats are almost entirely anthropogenic. Each strand of fishing gear that entangles a turtle, each piece of plastic ingested, each artificial light that misdirects hatchlings — these are welfare harms caused by human activity and preventable through human action. The scale of entanglement bycatch alone is enormous: estimated hundreds of thousands of sea turtles per year. Improving sea turtle welfare requires action on multiple fronts: fishing gear modification, plastic pollution reduction, beach lighting management, and direct conservation support.

What You Can Do

Participate in or support beach plastic clean-up initiatives, particularly near sea turtle nesting sites.
Support organizations working on fishing gear modifications that reduce sea turtle bycatch.
Turn off or shield artificial lights near sea turtle nesting beaches during nesting season.
Never purchase products made from sea turtle shell (tortoiseshell) or other sea turtle products.