Why are sea turtles endangered?
For millions of years, sea turtles were abundant in marine ecosystems across the world. Today, the numbers of sea turtles in different populations appear to have been reduced relative to historical levels. Human actions can threaten sea turtles during all stages of their lives. For instance, nesting habitat is often lost to beach development as lights, erosion, seawalls and other structures can prevent turtles from nesting. In many countries, nesting turtles are killed for meat, and turtle eggs are taken and eaten. Hatchlings can be killed by lights near the beach, because baby turtles crawl toward lights on land instead of toward the natural light of open horizon. As juveniles and adults, sea turtles are threatened by directed hunting at sea, by incidental capture in commercial fishing nets or long-lines, by disease and marine pollution. Using satellite tracking of sea turtles, we can increase our knowledge about the habitats turtles need to maintain healthy populations and the threat