forming starburst or irregular patterns Every two to four years turtles mate offshore and the mothers swim to the beach where they build deep nest cavities above the high tide line They lay an average of 136 eggs During a season they might repeat this process two or three times laying more eggs every 12 to 14 days Scientists have monitored a 13 mile 21 km stretch of beach in southern Florida's Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge since the 1980s In the early days they counted fewer than 50 green sea turtle nests per year In 2015 they counted a record 12 026 nests According to Kate Mansfield assistant professor at the University of Central Florida It is a really remarkable recovery and reflects a perfect storm of conservation successes Why were there so few nests in the 1980s and what caused the impressive recovery of Florida's green sea turtles Volunteers use dark red lights to monitor green sea turtles at night These lights don't disrupt the turtles nesting habits as much as white light does
LIGHT UP THE NETSI In Magdalena Bay off Mexico's Baja California SAVING THE GREEN SEA TURTLE gillnet fishing threatens loggerhead turtles John Wang of the University of Hawaii suggested In 1978 green sea turtles were classified as putting lights on gillnets When the lights hit the endangered under the US Endangered Species Act water they turn on warning turtles about the net When the lights come out of the water they turn This gave them special protection in the United States off The lights have reduced the number of turtles Two agencies oversee their protection The US Fish and caught in nets at night by 40 percent Some fishers have even reported an increase in fish Wildlife Service USFWS protects their beach nesting caught when using the lights grounds The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA protects them in the ocean This includes both their coastal feeding grounds such as seagrass beds and the open ocean where turtles often become entangled in fishing nets The green sea turtle is one of the largest of the seven sea turtle species Its populations around the world have declined significantly because of human activity People wait for turtle mothers to come ashore and lay their eggs Then they kill the mother and raid the nests obtaining both meat and eggs Coastal development destroys beaches Vehicle traffic on beaches discourages mother turtles from nesting and artificial lights disorient hatchlings trying to reach the ocean Turtles seagrass feeding grounds are threatened by pollution and loose soil settling over the beds and killing the plants In the open ocean fishermen accidentally kill many sea turtles They are caught in shrimp trawinets or gillnets or they are hooked on longlines Many of them drown These hazards threaten not just green sea turtles but all sea turtle species
USFWS programs work to limit the impact of development and artificial lighting on nesting sites They establish federal refuges such as the Archie Carr Refuge where turtles can nest undisturbed NOAA now requires all shrimp trawlers to use a special technology Turtle Excluder Devices TEDs TEDs decrease the number of turtles caught in nets because the nets design allows turtles to escape from the nets But US government agencies don't save green turtles by themselves This turtle is one of the world's most protected species Other countries have passed laws to protect them The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources IUCN has listed them as endangered Trade in turtle meat and shells is banned by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna THE IUCN CLASSIFIES SEA TURTLES The IUCN keeps a red list that classifies major species according to how threatened they are A critically endangered species is the most likely of the categories to become extinct in the wild An endangered species faces a great risk of extinction and a vulnerable species is at a slightly lower risk than an endangered one IUCN has classified the seven sea turtle species as follows Leatherback Vulnerable Green Endangered Loggerhead Endangered Hawksbill pictured Critically Endangered Olive Ridley Vulnerable Kemp's Ridley Critically Endangered Flatback Not Enough Information Many universities and research organizations including Mote Marine Laboratory and the National Marine Life Center research and restore sea turtle populations Private organizations such as the
