A new global survey has shown that endangered sea turtles show signs of recovery.
The research, by scientists from Deakin University in Victoria, Australia and NOAA’s Marine Mammal and Turtle Division in California, USA, has revealed most turtle populations are on the increase.
Nevertheless, pressure continues to protect the world’s oceans in the aftermath of the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC) in Nice, France, where ratification of the High Seas Treaty topped the agenda.
The ocean generates 50% of the oxygen we breathe, absorbs around 30% of carbon dioxide emissions and captures more than 90% of the excess heat caused by those emissions. Without a healthy ocean, many experts fear that climate goals will be impossible to reach.
Before the UN conference only 27 out of the 60 states needed to bring the High Seas Treaty into force had completed ratification. Over a matter of days that figure jumped to 50, and a dozen more countries agreed to ratify by the end of the year. The UK has said it would begin the process before 2026.
The latest news shows more progress for sea turtle populations in the Atlantic Ocean than in Pacific waters, and leatherback turtles are still not faring as well as other species.
All seven of the regions where leatherbacks are found still face high environmental risks, said study co-author Bryan Wallace, a wildlife ecologist at Ecolibrium in Colorado.
Leatherback turtles are famous for making the longest known marine migrations of any animal – with some individuals swimming as many as 3,700 miles each way.
While green turtles are still considered endangered globally, their populations show signs of recovery in many regions of the world, researchers found.
Picture courtesy of Doros Michail
