The State of Sea Turtles in the North Atlantic Ocean
This regional article is part of “An Atlas of Global Sea Turtle Status”. See the full atlas here.
The North Atlantic and its connected waters—the Caribbean and Mediterranean seas and the Gulf of Mexico—span roughly 85.1 million square kilometers (32.8 million square miles) of ocean, encompassing all the northern Atlantic temperate and tropical habitats of sea turtles from eastern North America to western Europe and northwestern Africa. Within those boundaries are the major sea turtle rookeries of the southeastern United States, and those of the 40-plus states and territories of the Wider Caribbean, the nations and territories of Macaronesia (the Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands, and Cabo Verde), and the 20-plus countries of the Mediterranean. This biologically, culturally, and geopolitically complex region is home to eight regional management units (RMUs) of five sea turtle species and is also regularly visited by olive ridleys and other species from the adjacent South Atlantic region (see “The State of Sea Turtles in the South Atlantic”).
Green turtles (two RMUs), loggerheads (three), hawksbills (one), and leatherbacks (one) are well represented in this region, with sizable populations and hundreds of nesting sites. Also found here is the entire global distribution of the Kemp’s ridley (one RMU), largely a Gulf of Mexico native that nests almost exclusively on a small number of beaches in northeastern Mexico and in southern Texas, U.S.A. The Kemp’s ridley regularly migrates beyond the Gulf, ranging north along the United States’ east coast. Occasionally, it enters the North Atlantic Gyre, traveling to northern Europe and even, though rarely, into Mediterranean and northwestern African waters.
Together, North Atlantic sea turtles and their habitats form a dynamic and interconnected conservation landscape—one shaped by decades of research, hard-won successes, and persistent challenges that continue to evolve today.
A leatherback hatchling swims out to sea after hatching in Florida, U.S.A. Although most North Atlantic sea turtle populations are considered low risk, low threat, the Northwest Atlantic leatherback stands out as the region’s only high risk, high threat RMU. © www.benjhicks.com
Research and Conservation
The North Atlantic region has been at the forefront of sea turtle research and conservation for more than half a century. Beginning in the 1950s, Dr. Archie Carr led foundational research and conservation work that first shed light on the life cycles of, threats to, and ecological importance of sea turtles. His book, titled The Windward Road (1956), was particularly influential, drawing public attention to the plight of sea turtles and inspiring conservation actions on a global scale. Work by Carr and others in the 1960s sought to reveal the mysteries of sea turtles’ lives, from where they spend their “lost years,” to how they navigate entire ocean basins, to where the enigmatic Kemp’s ridley lays its eggs. The green turtle research station launched by Carr at Tortuguero, Costa Rica, led to the founding of the Sea Turtle Conservancy (formerly the Caribbean Conservation Corporation) in 1959, making it the world’s first nonprofit organization dedicated to sea turtles. Carr’s science-based approach to sea turtle conservation also sparked a global movement within academic institutions that burns brightly to this day.
The pioneering work of Carr and others raised the alarm for sea turtles and spawned a proliferation of programs that have helped to protect and shape our understanding of sea turtles worldwide. From the southeastern U.S.A. through the Caribbean and across the Atlantic, early conservation efforts focused on protecting nesting beaches and reducing the take of eggs and adults. Following the Tortuguero model, long-term beach monitoring emerged in the 1970s and 1980s in places like Georgia, U.S.A., Rancho Nuevo, Mexico, Zakynthos, Greece, and Cyprus, each dedicated to studying and protecting sea turtles. At the same time, legal protections were enacted for sea turtles in countries across the North Atlantic, including the Endangered Species Act in the U.S.A., which continues to play a critical role in recovering sea turtles and their habitats.
As research and awareness campaigns evolved into more structured conservation initiatives and legal protections, conservationists came to a startling realization: tens of thousands of sea turtles were dying as bycatch in fisheries every year. Pioneering sea turtle programs throughout the Southeast U.S.A. conducted crucial monitoring efforts that not only documented the impact of bycatch but also played an important role in advocating for solutions. This led to the emergence of research and regulations spearheaded by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries to curb the incidental take of sea turtles in fisheries. The most notable breakthrough was the development and mandated implementation of turtle excluder devices (TEDs) in the shrimp trawl fishery. Methods to monitor and mitigate fisheries bycatch of sea turtles continue to be implemented throughout the North Atlantic, Caribbean, and Mediterranean.
The diverse stakeholders involved in sea turtle research and conservation in the North Atlantic have employed similarly diverse approaches to recover sea turtle populations, from advocacy and community engagement to science and education to policy and legislation. North Atlantic sea turtles would not be where they are today without the deep engagement and leadership—for more than 50 years—from the U.S.A.’s national, state, and federal agencies—including NOAA, the U.S. Geological Service (USGS), Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and National Park Service (NPS). Additionally, numerous universities have committed decades of support to sea turtle research and conservation, helping to unravel the many mysteries of sea turtle biology and producing new generations of sea turtle scientists, conservationists, and advocates.
The following are noteworthy examples of long-term field programs in this region:
Tortuguero, Costa Rica (1955–present): Home to the largest green turtle rookery in the Western Hemisphere, Tortuguero National Park was established in 1970 as the first protected area specifically for sea turtles.
Rancho Nuevo, Mexico (1966–present): The discovery, decline, and recovery of the Kemp’s ridley is one of the best examples of how humans can nearly destroy, but ultimately rescue, a species and put it on a path to long-term recovery.
Greece (1977–present): Loggerhead monitoring was begun by Dimitris Margaritoulis and his family, who later founded ARCHELON (the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece) that has led research and conservation in Zakynthos, Kyparissia Bay, and other Greek nesting sites ever since.
St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands (1984–present): Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge is 340 acres of critical coastal habitat acquired specifically to protect nesting leatherbacks. It is the site of long-standing research and conservation efforts led by various nonprofits and U.S. government authorities.
Trinidad (1990–present): The community-based organization Nature Seekers effectively ended the slaughter of leatherbacks at Matura Beach. Their research and conservation programs continue today at this location that hosts one of the world’s largest leatherback nesting rookeries.
Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, Florida, U.S.A. (1991–present): This mosaic of public and private lands spans 20.5 miles of coastline in Florida. Declared in 1991, the refuge has seen record growth globally significant nesting rookeries of both green and loggerhead turtles.
Northern coast of Cyprus (1992–present): The Marine Turtle Conservation Project (MTCP) conducts surveys and protects the nests of green and loggerhead turtles at this important reproductive site, complemented by work in the Republic of Cyprus dating back to the 1980s.
Cabo Verde (2000–present): This multi-island nation is home to one of the world’s largest loggerhead rookeries.
Progress in Addressing Threats
A young male loggerhead forages in a small reef off the coast of Greece, where sea turtle conservation efforts have been active since the 1970s. Mediterranean loggerheads are considered low risk, low threat overall, though bycatch remains a significant concern. © Kostas Papafitsoros
Commercial and artisanal sea turtle harvest was once commonplace throughout the North Atlantic region. Today, however, national laws to protect sea turtles are the norm, thanks to decades of advocacy and enforcement. International accords such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) have significantly curtailed trade and slowed the transboundary movements of sea turtle products. Many sea turtle habitats are now protected in the form of parks, sanctuaries, and reserves, which are now found in nearly every nation.
The engagement of nonprofits and local communities in conservation efforts has become an essential ingredient for success across the map, with noteworthy examples in all countries. Stranding networks also help rescue injured or debilitated turtles and gather information to inform the amelioration of threats such as fisheries bycatch, boat strikes, and disease, and private sea turtle hospitals rescue, rehabilitate, and release thousands of sea turtles annually.
International collaboration through formal and informal networks has become a hallmark of successful sea turtle conservation in the region through networks such as WIDECAST (Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network), the North African Sea Turtle Network (NASTNET), and the European Union’s LIFE projects (Euroturtles, Medturtles, MareNatura, and ADAPTS, to name a few). In the Mediterranean, the United Nations Environment Programme’s Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/ MAP)—Barcelona Agreement and the Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RAC/SPA) adopted an Action Plan for the Conservation of Marine Turtles since 1989. The Inter-American Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles (IAC) that came into force in 2001, is an intergovernmental treaty that facilitates actions among its 16 signatory countries. Regular conferences also bring together conservationists regionally, such as the biennial Southeast Regional Sea Turtle Meeting (SERSTM) in the United States, and the Mediterranean Conference on Marine Turtles, held every three years.
Thanks to all these long-term conservation efforts, the North Atlantic region contains some of the least threatened and least vulnerable populations in the world. Of the eight RMUs in the North Atlantic, six were scored as low risk and low threat in the 2025 Conservation Priorities Portfolio (CPP) assessment; the exceptions were the high-risk Kemp’s ridley RMU and the high risk and high threat Northwest Atlantic leatherback RMU. CPP results suggest that this region has relatively low pressure from threats thanks to the plethora of efforts to mitigate habitat loss, bycatch, and take. Thus, fully half of the region’s RMUs show improvement in scores since 2011, and the status of three other RMUs has remained stable.
Yet high rates of fisheries bycatch continue to plague some North Atlantic sea turtle populations, particularly in the Mediterranean and Caribbean, with hotspots such as Trinidad, which has some of the world’s highest documented bycatch rates, and the Guianas, where illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing is rampant. Addressing this threat requires concerted enforcement and the use of technology that reduces bycatch while helping fishers maintain their catch, such as turtle excluder devices (TEDs) in shrimp trawlers. Ongoing work with fishers to minimize interactions and to use safe and proper sea turtle handling and release techniques to increase the survival chances of bycaught animals is also of paramount importance.
Though they rank lower than fisheries as threats, other impacts are important to mitigate, including habitat degradation caused by coastal development, oil and gas production, pollution, runoff, and climate change. Habitat degradation is especially problematic in tourist destinations where human presence on and near beaches is high. The Mediterranean basin is one of the world’s largest global tourism destinations, as are Florida and many locations throughout the Caribbean, and in these places coastal development can lead to light pollution, erosion, and other disturbances that negatively affect nesting and hatching success. Moreover, pollution from plastic debris, agricultural and toxic runoff, oil spills, and more pose a worsening threat. The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico highlighted the devastating impact of such crises on sea turtles and the need for improved prevention and response measures.
The North Atlantic has noteworthy examples of sea turtle recovery, from the Kemp’s ridley in Mexico and Texas to the longterm programs (described earlier) from Costa Rica, Cyprus, Greece, and the United States. One notable exception to recovery is the Northwest Atlantic leatherback, which has seen a significant recent decline. This RMU provides a cautionary tale, demonstrating the region’s need to maintain a consistent conservation presence, to sustain monitoring efforts, and to keep known threats at bay, while also confronting future challenges of more cryptic hazards such as climate change and ocean pollution.
See the “Atlas User Guide” for definitions and tips for interpreting these figures. Data citations can be downloaded here.
This article originally appeared in SWOT Report, vol. 20 (2025). Download this entire article as a PDF.