What they all have in common is that they rely on beaches for nesting. When they’re not nesting, sea turtles spend most of their lives in the ocean; much of their journey around the globe remains a mystery to researchers. The southeastern United States provides globally significant habitat for sea turtles. In fact, Florida beaches host 90% of sea turtle nesting in the continental U.S. and the largest rookery of loggerhead nesting in the world.

Except for the flatback, all species occur in North American waters and are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Air-breathing reptiles that have been around for 110 million years, sea turtles spend different parts of their long lives in different parts of the world.

There are seven species of sea turtles that inhabit the Earth’s oceans: loggerhead, leatherback, green turtle, hawksbill, Kemp’s ridley, olive ridley and flatback.

Defenders' Impact

In the Southeast and along the Gulf of Mexico, we work to preserve nesting beaches and foraging areas, improve coastal-construction policies so that jetties and sea walls do not prevent turtles from nesting, promote responsible lighting along nesting beaches, encourage local residents, visitors and businesses to remove trash that attracts raccoons and other predators that devour eggs and hatchlings, and organize workshops and beach clean-ups.

We strive to reform harmful fisheries that kill thousands of sea turtles every year and have successfully advocated for new rules on Cape Hatteras National Seashore to limit off-road vehicles on the beach to protect nesting sites. Defenders also promotes the vigilant use of turtle excluder devises (TEDs) and innovative fishing practices to reduce sea turtle deaths in trawling nets.

In California, Defenders is currently advocating for a law that phases out the use of harmful drift gillnets while promoting sustainable, local fisheries.

In Mexico, we helped change wildlife and fisheries regulations to forbid capture and trade of sea turtle products, as well as promoted the use of safe fishing gear to decrease sea turtle bycatch in shark fisheries, protection measures and correct management of nesting sites. Internationally we successfully stopped proposals to renew commerce with hawksbills in CITES and promoted sea turtle conservation resolutions in the InterAmerican Convention for the Protection and Conservation of Sea Turtles. We created a series of educational materials against the illegal trade of sea turtle products, including a sea turtle identification guide widely used by scientists and government authorities.

We continue to advocate against allowing any new oil and gas exploration and development along the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts.