Authors of a Revolution
Since we published the first SWOT Report in 2006, we have seen radical changes in our community’s ability to understand and protect sea turtles globally. Those changes, when taken as a whole, are nothing less than a revolution in perspective and approach. In an attempt to recognize the countless people who have contributed over the years to the work presented in this special 20th anniversary volume of SWOT Report, we begin by acknowledging the participants in the seven IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group Burning Issues workshops (2003–present), the contributors to the first 19 volumes of SWOT Report (2006–2024), and the hundreds of contributors to the SWOT database since its inception in 2004.
Marking the start of a short, daytime arribada, a Kemp’s ridley emerges from the surf to nest in Rancho Nuevo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. © Tui De Roy/Roving Tortoise Photos;
We—Roderic Mast, Brian Hutchinson, Ashleigh Bandimere, and Bryan Wallace—are also deeply grateful to the many people who assisted in the writing and editing of this Atlas, including Camryn Allen, George Balazs, Rob Baldwin, Mayeul Dalleau, Tomas Diagne, Sabrina Fossette, Alexandre Girard, David Godfrey, Joana Hancock, Neca Marcovaldi, Jeanne A. Mortimer, Ronel Nel, David Owens, Aliki Panagopoulou, Nicolas Pilcher, Laura Prosdocimi, Juan Manuel Rodríguez-Baron, Jeffrey Seminoff, Kartik Shanker, Gustavo Stahelin, Marylou Staman, Andrea Whiting, and Paul Whittock, and extra gratitude to Joe Pfaller for his detailed edit of the full Atlas.
Above all, we wish to recognize all the contributors to the four game-changing publications that have become milestones for sea turtle conservation. Those publications are frequently referenced in the production of this first-ever Atlas of Sea Turtle Status (2025):
Regional Management Units for Marine Turtles: A Novel Framework for Prioritizing Conservation and Research across Multiple Scales (2010)
Bryan P. Wallace, Andrew D. DiMatteo, Brendan J. Hurley, Elena M. Finkbeiner, Alan B. Bolten, Milani Y. Chaloupka, Brian J. Hutchinson, F. Alberto Abreu-Grobois, Diego Amorocho, Karen A. Bjorndal, Jérôme Bourjea, Brian W. Bowen, Raquel Briseño Dueñas, Paolo Casale, B. C. Choudhury, Alice Costa, Peter H. Dutton, Alejandro Fallabrino, Alexandre Girard, Marc Girondot, Matthew H. Godfrey, Mark Hamann, Milagros López-Mendilaharsu, Maria Ângela Marcovaldi, Jeanne A. Mortimer, John A. Musick, Ronel Nel, Nicolas J. Pilcher, Jeffrey A. Seminoff, Sebastian Troëng, Blair Witherington, and Roderic B. Mast.
Global Conservation Priorities for Marine Turtles (2011)
Bryan P. Wallace, Andrew D. DiMatteo, Alan B. Bolten, Milani Y. Chaloupka, Brian J. Hutchinson, F. Alberto Abreu-Grobois, Jeanne A. Mortimer, Jeffrey A. Seminoff, Diego Amorocho, Karen A. Bjorndal, Jérôme Bourjea, Brian W. Bowen, Raquel Briseño Dueñas, Paolo Casale, B. C. Choudhury, Alice Costa, Peter H. Dutton, Alejandro Fallabrino, Elena M. Finkbeiner, Alexandre Girard, Marc Girondot, Mark Hamann, Brendan J. Hurley, Milagros López-Mendilaharsu, Maria Ângela Marcovaldi, John A. Musick, Ronel Nel, Nicolas J. Pilcher, Sebastian Troëng, Blair Witherington, and Roderic B. Mast.
Marine Turtle Regional Management Units 2.0: An Updated Framework for Conservation and Research of Wide-Ranging Megafauna Species (2023)
Bryan P. Wallace, Zachary A. Posnik, Brendan J. Hurley, Andrew D. DiMatteo, Ashleigh Bandimere, Isabel Rodriguez, Sara M. Maxwell, Lucy Meyer, Hannah Brenner, Michael P. Jensen, Erin LaCasella, Brian M. Shamblin, F. Alberto Abreu-Grobois, Kelly R. Stewart, Peter H. Dutton, Héctor Barrios-Garrido, Mayeul Dalleau, Florence Dell’Amico, Karen L. Eckert, Nancy N. FitzSimmons, Marco García-Cruz, Graeme C. Hays, Shaleyla Kelez, Cynthia J. Lagueux, Christine A. Madden Hof, Adolfo Marco, Samir L. T. Martins, Asghar Mobaraki, Jeanne A. Mortimer, Ronel Nel, Andrea D. Phillott, Nicolas J. Pilcher, Nathan F. Putman, ALan F. Rees, Juan Manuel Rodríguez-Baron, Jeffrey A. Seminoff, Adhith Swaminathan, Oğuz Türkozan, Sarah M. Vargas, Pedro D. Vernet, Sibelle Vilaça, Scott D. Whiting, Brian J. Hutchinson, Paolo Casale, and Roderic B. Mast.
Updated Global Conservation Status and Priorities for Marine Turtles (2025)
Bryan P. Wallace, Ashleigh N. Bandimere, F. Alberto Abreu-Grobois, Héctor Hugo Acosta, Jacques Akiti, Mensah Akomedi, Joanna Alfaro-Shigueto, Camryn D. Allen, David Angenda, Isidore Ayissi, Julia Azanza Ricardo, Karla G. Barrientos-Muñoz, Héctor Barrios-Garrido, Karen A. Bjorndal, Emmanuel Bretón Vargas, Annette C. Broderick, Randy Calderón Peña, Carlos Carreras, Simona A. Ceriani, Liliana P. Colman, Adriana A. Cortés-Gómez, Luis Crespo, Eduardo Cuevas, Alexandre Dah, Arjan de Groene, Carlos Delgado Trejo, Simon Demetropoulos, Ashley Dias, Carlos Diez, Natalie A. dos Santos, Josea S. Dossou Bodjrenou, Michelle María Early Capistrán, Karen L. Eckert, Christophe Eizaguirre, Lalith Ekanayake, Maribel Escobedo Mondragón, Nicole Esteban, Deborah Feliciano, Raquel dos Santos Fernandes, Betania Ferreira-Airaud, Allen Foley, Luis G. Fonseca, Sabrina Fossette, Mariana M. P. B. Fuentes, John Gaglo, Alexander R. Gaos, Daniele Gidsicki, Bruno B. Giffoni, Alexandre Girard, Marc Girondot, Matthew H. Godfrey, Brendan J. Godley, Raúl de Jesús González Díaz Mirón, Mark Hamann, Joana M. Hancock, Catherine E. Hart, Graeme C. Hays, Roberto Herrera, Sandra Hochscheid, Shaun Hoekstra, Patricia Huerta-Rodríguez, Gelica E. Inteca, Takashi Ishihara, Michael P. Jensen, Imed Jribi, Nupur Kale, Yakup Kaska, Shaleyla Kelez, Irene Kinan Kelly, Stephanie Köhnk, Paulo H. Lara, Mathilde Lasfargue, Ann M. Lauritsen, Diane Z. M. Le Gouvello, Alphinah Liusamoa, Martha López, Melania C. López-Castro, Milagros López-Mendilaharsu, Cristina M. M. Louro, Teresa Luna, Christine A. Madden, David Mahabir, Agnese Mancini, Muralidharan Manoharakrishnan, Maria Ângela Marcovaldi, Rosa C. Martínez-Portugal, Angela Mastrogiacomo, Estrela Matilde, Bright Mawunyo Adzagba, Samuel Mbungu, Cristina Miranda, Félix Moncada, B. Alejandra Morales-Mérida, Jeanne A. Mortimer, Shawn K. K. Murakawa, Michel A. Nalovic, Ronel Nel, Rodrigue Ngafack, Hideaki Nishizawa, Maixent Ogou, Aliki Panagopoulou, Ana Rita Patrício, Erika Peralta Buendía, Andrea D. Phillott, Nicolas J. Pilcher, Maximilian M. R. Polyak, Robert Prince, Ebiegberi Henry Raynus, Richard D. Reina, Juan Manuel Rodríguez-Baron, Amanda E. Robbins, Alexsandro S. dos Santos, Laura Sarti, Gail Schofield, Jeffrey A. Seminoff, Irmaury Serrano, Brian M. Shamblin, Kartik Shanker, Brian Stacy, Gustavo D. Stahelin, Marylou K. Staman, Martin Stelfox, Kelly Stewart, Albert Taxonera, Anton D. Tucker, Oğuz Türkozan, Robert P. van Dam, Casper H. van de Geer, Sara Vieira, Lindsey West, Andrea U. Whiting, Scott D. Whiting, Lauren Wienand, Soraya R. Wijntuin, Natalie E. Wildermann, Patricia M. Zárate, Paolo Casale, Andrew DiMatteo, Brendan J. Hurley, Brian J. Hutchinson, Sara M. Maxwell, Zachary A. Posnik, Isabel Rodriguez, and Roderic B. Mast.
This article originally appeared in SWOT Report, vol. 20 (2025). Download this entire article as a PDF.