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According to that lovable loggerhead Crush—the surfer-dude sea turtle from the movie Finding Nemo—the East Australia Current (EAC) is a sea turtle highway, where turtles hitch a free ride from one place to another, and this observation isn’t too far from the truth.
Read MoreThis beach was first noticed in 1974, when Robert Bustard visited the mangrove forests of Bhitarkanika—in Orissa on the east coast of India—in search of saltwater crocodiles. In passing, he heard of a beach where thousands of turtles arrived each winter. The following year, he returned with a group of young and enthusiastic biologists, and soon after announced to the world that they had discovered the world’s largest rookery for the species.
Read MoreThe manufacturing of this NGO’s souvenirs generates employment for hundreds of people and is a considerable stimulus to the local economy.
Read MoreDuring the past year, SWOT has developed a strategy to achieve the long-term goal of making SWOT a global monitoring system for sea turtle populations and species. SWOT is creating a one-of-a-kind statistical modeling program that will be a tool for researchers and data providers to analyze their data and to estimate actual nesting numbers in the absence of complete monitoring coverage.
Read MoreWe crave oil and gas, and we are running out of those fuels. In this article, experts explore the myriad effects of oil extraction on sea turtles.
Read MoreJuvenile loggerheads leave their natal beaches in Japan and spend a large portion of their early life in the open ocean traveling and foraging along a trans-Pacific “highway,” with some turtles reaching foraging grounds in Baja California. TurtleWatch uses up-to-date oceanographic information to give recommendations to longline fishers about which ares to fish if they are to avoid accidentally catching loggerheads.
Read MoreMost people have heard about the huge island of plastic rubbish in the north Pacific. There is, however, another lesser acknowledged form of rubbish that plagues our seas today: ghost nets.
Read MoreFor the past 10 years, the Frickers have gone “turtling” with biologist Dr. Mike James of the Canadian Sea Turtle Network (CSTN). The team has worked together since, contributing to a long list of scientific information important to the conservation of leatherbacks.
Read MoreThe vast majority of sea turtle studies happen on beaches when females emerge to nest, yet sea turtles spend virtually all of their lives at sea. In spite of those challenges, since 1998 the Barbados Sea Turtle Project (BSTP) of the University of the West Indies, Barbados, has been monitoring hawksbill turtles on foraging sites at depths of up to 40 meters (131 feet).
Read MoreNearly all of captive rearing facilities for sea turtles have closed because of sea turtles’ endangered status, but some, like Corail Farm, have been redefined to live on in a new light. To follow their story is to follow the changing landscape of human interest and intervention in the lives of sea turtles.
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