Common Name: Hawksbill sea turtles. Scientific Name: Eretmochelys imbricata. Type: Reptiles. Diet: Carnivore.
Size: 24 to 45 inches. Weight: to pounds. Size relative to a 6-ft man:. Critically endangered. Least Concern Extinct. Current Population Trend: Decreasing. This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our photo community on Instagram. Follow us on Instagram at natgeoyourshot or visit us at natgeo. Share Tweet Email. Go Further. Animals Wild Cities This wild African cat has adapted to life in a big city.
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Environment Planet Possible India bets its energy future on solar—in ways both small and big. We conduct various research activities on the biology, behavior, and ecology of hawksbill sea turtles. The results of this research are used to evaluate population trends, inform conservation management strategies, and to assess progress toward recovery for this imperiled species.
Our work includes:. Reduce marine debris and participate in coastal clean-up events. Responsibly dispose of fishing line - lost or discarded fish line kills hundreds of sea turtles and other animals every year. Trash in the environment can end up in the ocean and harm marine life.
Reduce plastic use to keep our beaches and oceans clean—carry reusable water bottles and shopping bags. Refrain from releasing balloons —they can end up in the ocean where sea turtles can mistake them for prey like jellyfish or become entangled in lines. Learn more about marine debris. If interested, attend organized sea turtle watches that know how to safely observe sea turtles.
Never feed or attempt to feed or touch sea turtles as it changes their natural behavior and may make them more susceptible to harm.
Boat strikes are a serious threat to sea turtles. When boating, watch for sea turtles in the water, slow down, and steer around them. If you encounter them closer than 50 yards, put your engine in neutral to avoid injury.
Learn more about our marine life viewing guidelines. Beaches are paramount for healthy sea turtle populations since females come to the shore to deposit their eggs into nests. Keep nesting beaches dark and safe at night. Turn off, shield, or redirect lights visible from the beach—lights disorient hatchlings and discourage nesting females from coming onto beaches to lay their eggs. After a day at the beach, remove recreational beach equipment like chairs and umbrellas so sea turtles are not entrapped or turned away.
Also, fill in holes and knock down sandcastles before you leave—they can become obstacles for nesting turtles or emerging hatchlings. Do not drive on sea turtle nesting beaches —vehicles can deter females from nesting, directly strike hatchlings and nesting turtles, damage incubating nests, and create ruts that prevent hatchlings from reaching the sea.
If you see a stranded, injured, or entangled sea turtle, contact professional responders and scientists who can take appropriate action. Numerous organizations around the country are trained and ready to respond.
Learn who you should contact when you encounter a stranded or injured marine animal. Hawksbill turtles are protected under the Endangered Species Act and listed as endangered. This means that the hawksbill turtle is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range. NOAA Fisheries is working to protect hawksbills in many ways, with the goal of conserving and recovering the species worldwide.
FWS having the lead on the nesting beaches. Both federal agencies, along with many state and U. FWS to develop and implement recovery plans which provide a blueprint for conservation of the species and measurable criteria to gauge progress toward recovery. The major recovery actions for hawksbill turtles include:. Two recovery plans have been developed to recover and protect hawksbill turtle populations that are found in the U.
Each is focused on the unique needs of hawksbill turtles in the various regions. The highly migratory behavior of sea turtles makes them shared resources among many nations, so conservation efforts for sea turtle populations must extend beyond national boundaries.
This necessitates international collaboration and coordination. Learn more about international conservation efforts below. NOAA Fisheries is working to minimize effects from human activities that are detrimental to the recovery of hawksbill turtles in the United States and internationally. Together with our partners, we undertake numerous activities to support the goals of the hawksbill turtle recovery plans, with the ultimate goal of species recovery.
Efforts to conserve hawksbill turtles include:. Those areas may be designated as critical habitat through a rulemaking process. A critical habitat designation does not set up a marine preserve or refuge.
Rather, federal agencies that undertake, fund, or permit activities that may affect designated critical habitat areas are required to consult with NOAA Fisheries to ensure that their actions do not adversely modify or destroy these designated critical habitats.
Coral reefs, like those found in the waters surrounding Mona and Monito Islands, are widely recognized as the primary foraging habitat of hawksbill turtles in the U. There is no critical habitat designated for hawkbills in the Pacific. View the Hawksbill sea turtle critical habitat map. NOAA Fisheries is working to reduce the bycatch of sea turtles in commercial and artisanal fisheries.
Our efforts are focused on documenting bycatch, understanding how, why, and where sea turtles are bycaught, and how to reduce that bycatch. These modifications are required in certain U. Measures include:. TEDs are required in the shrimp otter trawl fishery and, in early , in larger vessels participating in skimmer trawl fishery. Since , the U. The import ban does not apply to nations that have adopted sea turtle protection programs comparable to that of the United States i.
The U. Department of State is the principal implementing agency of this law while NOAA Fisheries serves as technical advisor and provides extensive TED training throughout the world. We are also involved in cooperative gear research projects, implementation of changes to gear and fishing practices, and safe handling protocols designed to reduce sea turtle bycatch and mortality in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic pelagic longline fisheries, the American Samoa and Hawaii-based longline fisheries , the Atlantic sea scallop dredge fishery, and non-shrimp trawl fisheries in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.
Bycatch in fishing gear is the primary human-caused source of sea turtle injury and mortality in U. The most effective way to learn about bycatch is to place observers aboard fishing vessels. Observers collect important information that allows us to understand the amount and extent of bycatch, how turtles interact with the gear, and how bycatch reduction measures are working.
NOAA Fisheries determines which fisheries are required to carry observers, if requested to do so, through an annual determination. Observers may also be placed on fishing vessels through our authorities under the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
A stranded sea turtle is one that is found on land or in the water and is either dead or is alive but unable to undergo normal activities and behaviors due to an injury, illness, or other problem. Most strandings are of individual turtles, and thousands are documented annually along the coasts of the United States and its territories. Organized networks of trained stranding responders are authorized to recover dead turtles or assist live turtles and document important information about the causes of strandings.
These networks include federal, state, and private organizations. The actions taken by stranding network participants improve the survival of sick, injured, and entangled turtles while also helping scientists and managers expand their knowledge about threats to sea turtles and causes of mortality. Because sea turtles spend most of their life at sea and out of sight, information learned from strandings are an important way for us to identify and monitor problems that threaten sea turtle populations.
Within the United States and its territories, there are three regional networks that serve to document and rescue stranded and entangled sea turtles:. The actions taken by stranding network participants improve the survivability of sick, injured, and entangled turtles while also helping scientists and managers to expand their knowledge about diseases and other threats that affect sea turtles in the marine environment and on land.
The conservation and recovery of sea turtles requires international cooperation and agreements to ensure the survival of these highly migratory animals. We work closely with partners in many countries across the globe to promote sea turtle conservation and recovery.
Two international agreements specifically focused on sea turtle conservation are:. The hawksbill sea turtle was first listed under the Endangered Species Act in The ESA 5-year review concluded that the species continues to meet the definition of an endangered species, based on the best available information. In , we finalized regulations to require turtle excluder devices TEDs in shrimp trawl fisheries to reduce sea turtle bycatch. Since then, we have updated these regulations as new information became available and TEDs were modified to improve their turtle exclusion rates.
We have implemented other measures to reduce sea turtle bycatch through regulations and permits under both the ESA and Magnuson-Stevens Act. In the Caribbean, as hawksbills grow, they begin exclusively feeding on only a few types of sponges, and they can eat an average of 1, pounds kilograms of sponges a year. However, in the Indo-Pacific, hawksbills continue eating a varied diet that includes sponges, other invertebrates , and algae. Interestingly, some of the sponges and small animals that hawksbills consume are toxic.
The hawksbill's body fat absorbs the toxins without making the turtle ill, but their meat is potentially poisonous to humans. This discourages, but does not stop, the harvesting of hawksbills for meat. Like other sea turtles, hawksbill turtles are solitary for most of their lives; they meet only to mate. Every two to three years, females return to nest on the very same beaches where they themselves hatched, referred to as natal beaches. The nesting season in most locations occurs sometime between April and November.
Hawksbills nest at night, laying three to six clutches a season at two week intervals. In Florida and the U. Caribbean, a clutch size is about eggs. The incubation period averages 60 days. After the incubation period, two-inch five-centimeter hatchlings emerge as a group. Hatchlings use the bright, open view of the night sky over the water to find their way to the sea. In contrast to all other sea turtle species, hawksbills usually nest in low densities on scattered small beaches.
By the time they reach 14 inches 35 centimeters in length, hawksbills tend to move onto reef habitat. They are believed to begin breeding about 25 to 35 years later.
However, the time required to reach 14 inches is unknown and growth rates vary geographically. As a result, actual age at sexual maturity is not known. The normal lifespan of hawksbill turtles is thought to be about 30 to 50 years. Hawksbill sea turtles are internationally listed as critically endangered, and the reptile has been federally listed as an endangered species since The shell is used to make jewelry, hair decorations, and other ornaments, and even though international trade of the hawksbill is prohibited, it continues in much of the world.
In addition hawksbills are harvested for their meat. Marine pollution and debris, watercraft strikes, and incidental take from commercial fishing operations also contribute to human-related deaths.
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