Marine Turtle Fibropapillomatosis: Disease and Welfare

Fibropapillomatosis is a debilitating tumour disease affecting green sea turtles globally. Understanding the disease ecology is essential for turtle welfare and conservation.

Key Facts

Fibropapillomatosis causes benign but debilitating tumours on skin and internal organs
Green sea turtles are most commonly affected with high prevalence in some populations
Herpesvirus is implicated but environmental factors including pollution increase risk
Tumours on eyes and flippers cause blindness, swimming difficulty and starvation
Surgical removal is possible in rehabilitation but tumours often recur
Turtles in degraded coastal habitats show higher fibropapillomatosis prevalence

Welfare Considerations

Fibropapillomatosis causes progressive disability and suffering in affected turtles. Eye tumours cause blindness, flipper tumours impair swimming and feeding, and internal tumours affect organ function. Rehabilitation is possible for moderate cases but severely affected turtles often cannot survive. Habitat quality and water pollution reduction are the primary preventive measures available at a population scale.

What You Can Do

Support marine pollution reduction efforts that protect coastal turtle habitats
Donate to sea turtle rehabilitation organisations treating fibropapillomatosis cases
Advocate for coastal development controls that protect high-quality turtle habitat
Reduce single-use plastic use to decrease marine pollution affecting turtles