The Red List status of the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) has improved from Endangered to Least Concern due to sustained conservation, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Green turtles serve as keystone species in tropical marine ecosystems comprising of corals and seagrass meadows and have cultural, culinary, recreational and spiritual importance for people across the world, the body stated in its ongoing Congress at Abu Dhabi.
The species is found in tropical and subtropical waters around the globe and is estimated to have increased by nearly 28 per cent since the 1970s, despite existing threats to some subpopulations, the IUCN noted.
“Conservation efforts have focused on protecting nesting females and their eggs on beaches, expanding community-based initiatives to reduce unsustainable harvest of turtles and their eggs for human consumption, curtailing trade, and using Turtle Excluder Devices and other measures to reduce the accidental capture of turtles in fishing gear. Efforts in Ascension Island, Brazil, Mexico and Hawai’i have been particularly successful, with some subpopulations rebounding to close to pre-commercial exploitation levels,” the IUCN statement said.
However, despite global improvement in their population, green turtles remain significantly depleted compared to the period before European colonisation, which led to their widespread unsustainable use and trade in several parts of the world.
The direct, commercial and non-subsistence harvesting of turtles and eggs, along with fisheries bycatch, remain significant sources of mortality. Unsustainable coastal and marine development destroys vital turtle habitats, the IUCN noted.
The species is further threatened by climate change which is impacting green turtle habitats, including nesting beaches. These impacts are visible in the Southwest Pacific subpopulation — home to the world’s largest nesting rookery at Raine Island, Australia — where several years of declining hatchling production is a cause of significant concern, the statement added.
“The ongoing global recovery of the green turtle is a powerful example of what coordinated global conservation over decades can achieve to stabilise and even restore populations of long-lived marine species,” said Roderic Mast, Co-Chair of IUCN’s Species Survival Commission Marine Turtle Specialist Group.
Such approaches must focus not only on the turtles, but on keeping their habitats healthy, and their ecological functions intact. Sea turtles cannot survive without healthy oceans and coasts, and humans can’t either. Sustained conservation efforts are key to assuring that this recovery lasts, Mast said.