Announcements

We are excited to announce several significant updates to the IUCN Red List status of sea turtle species and populations that were published in July 2019

In 2017 the IUCN-SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group launched a new regional reporting initiative that aims to harness the collective power of our global expert members to compile and summarize the most relevant data for conservation of sea turtles in each of the 10 MTSG regions and their respective marine turtle Regional Management Units (RMUs). Through… Read more

A new IUCN Red List Assessment of the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) is now available online. The assessment was completed by the Marine Turtle Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, a global network of sea turtle experts. This is the second sea turtle species (after the leatherback turtle, Dermochelys coriacea) that has… Read more

First-ever combined subpopulation listing and global listing show variation in leatherback status worldwide. For decades, the IUCN SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group has debated the utility and appropriateness of single global listings on the Red List of Threatened Species for widely distributed, long-lived marine turtle species. The main disadvantage of global listings is that they… Read more

The UK-based Whitley Fund for Nature awarded Joanna Alfaro-Shigueto, an MTSG member from Lima (Peru), with one of the world’s most prestigious wildlife conservation awards – the Whitley Award. The results were announced during a ceremony at the Royal Geographical Society in May, at which the Whitley Fund for Nature’s patron, Her Royal Highness The… Read more

A version of a Red List Assessment of the Hawaiian subpopulation of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) was completed by Nicolas Pilcher, Milani Chaloupka, and Erin Woods and submitted by the MTSG to IUCN for consideration late last year. This followed a review of the draft assessment by the entire MTSG and the Assessment Steering Committee,… Read more

  UPDATE (1/30/2012): After review by IUCN, the Red List Assessment of Hawaiian green turtles has been revised and is pending re-submission. See this post for details. The final version of a Red List Assessment of the Hawaiian subpopulation of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) was completed by Nicolas Pilcher, Milani Chaloupka, and Erin Woods and… Read more

We are pleased to announce the results of the first comprehensive status assessment of all sea turtle populations globally in a paper published today in the journal PLoS ONE.  The study, designed to provide a blueprint for marine turtle conservation and research, evaluated the risk and status of each of the 58 marine turtle “Regional Management… Read more

A study published this month (PDF available here) estimates that the number of sea turtles accidentally caught and killed in United States coastal waters has declined by an estimated 90-percent since 1990, a dramatic reduction achieved in fisheries where specific regulations have been implemented to reduce bycatch. The report, published in the scientific journal Biological… Read more