Green Turtle

Photo By: Pierre Lesage

A new analysis has identified the world's most endangered populations of sea turtles, and those populations that are the healthiest and most resilient to the threats that have become so common for these creatures.

Unlike lists that might identify entire species at risk, this study identified species in specific geographic locations that are most at risk. Olive ridley turtles living in portions of Oman, India and Sri Lanka on the Indian Ocean are at or near the top of the list of most endangered populations. Loggerhead turtles in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar portions of the Indian Ocean, too. Leatherback and Hawksbill turtles in several areas are also highly threatened.

On the other hand, several areas around the world support healthy populations of green turtles. Specific populations of hawksbill, leatherback and olive ridley turtles appeared on the healthiest list, even though other specific populations appear on the most-endangered list.

"Before we conducted this study, the best we could say about sea turtles was that six of the seven sea turtle species are threatened with extinction globally,” said Bryan Wallace, lead author of the study, and director of science for the Marine Flagship Species Program at Conservation International. "But this wasn’t very helpful for conservation because it didn’t help us set priorities for different populations in different regions. Sea turtles everywhere are conservation-dependent, but this framework will help us effectively target our conservation efforts around the world."

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