Current threats & problems

Turtles spend most of their lives at sea, but lay their eggs on land. When the hatchlings are born, they rely on reflected moonlight to guide them to the sea and safety. But as tourist development has encroached onto nesting beaches, the babies have become confused and have frequently headed towards the bright lights of discos, beach bars and cafes instead - only to collapse exhausted and be attacked by predators.

The diet of the turtle varies according to the species. Green turtles are fond of sea grasses, while leatherbacks favour jellyfish. Leatherbacks often mistake floating plastic bags for their favourite prey, with fatal consequences.

The leatherback is capable of travelling huge distances. Most marine turtles live in warm tropical and sub - tropical seas, but the leatherback also visits cooler waters.

If global warming continues, we may see more of the leatherback and other species which make occasional appearances off the British coast.

The olive and Kemp's ridley turtles are related and used to come ashore in huge numbers to lay their eggs. In the late 1940s more than 42,000 female Kemp's ridleys nested together in a single day - now, only some 900 make the same journey. The Kemp's ridley is now critically endangered because its population has declined due to human exploitation and because it gets trapped in shrimp nets. The species is particularly vulnerable because it nests on just one stretch of beach in Mexico.


What WWF is doing

WWF runs public awareness campaigns in Greece and Turkey to save highly vulnerable nesting beaches from tourist hotel development. Following pressure from WWF and other organisations, Laganas Bay on the island of Zakynthos - one of the Mediterranean's las t loggerhead turtle nesting grounds - is to become a marine park. WWF and the European Union have also enabled the Sea Turtle Protection Society to buy land behind the island's most important nesting beach to keep it free from tourist development.

We have helped persuade the Turkish government to give priority to turtles rather than tourists on nesting beaches at Dalyan and Dafni. We have also recommended protection measures for another 20 important sites and have offered technical and financial su pport.

WWF operates other turtle projects worldwide. It is involved in action to prevent the illegal but still significant trade in tortoiseshell products for the tourist market. We also work in Gabon, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mexico, the Philippines, Thailand and other countries on marine projects, all of which help protect this vulnerable creature.

WWF contributes to Brazil's Project Tamar, which began in 1980. Five species of sea turtle lay their eggs on Brazilian beaches, but in the past, almost all turtles coming ashore were killed. Now poachers have been persuaded that the creatures are worth more alive than dead, so they are hired as protectors. Each season around 300,000 baby turtles are released into the sea, and a cottage handicraft industry provides a liveli- hood for many villages. The project now aims to protect the turtles' feeding grounds.