article · Endangered Species Research
The IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group updated its 2011 conservation priorities framework through an inclusive assessment process involving experts from 50 countries. The findings suggest that the conservation status of marine turtles is generally improving, with long-term abundance trends increasing and threat impact scores improving for more regional management units (RMUs) than worsening. Despite these improvements, significant challenges persist, particularly fisheries bycatch, which remains the highest-scored threat across regions and species. Most RMUs showed an improved risk-threat status, with many in the Atlantic Ocean categorised as low risk-low threat, while high risk-high threat RMUs were predominantly found in the Pacific Ocean, notably for leatherback turtles. The assessment also identified RMUs with critical data needs.
This research provides an updated, comprehensive assessment of marine turtle conservation status and threats. It is crucial for guiding conservation organisations, policymakers, and funders in strategically allocating limited resources to protect these vulnerable species and address the most pressing challenges effectively.
This research provides an updated framework and data, including an interactive data dashboard, which can be used by conservation organisations, government agencies, and funders. It serves as an applied tool for strategic planning and resource allocation in marine turtle conservation. The findings inform evidence-based policy and funding decisions, rather than offering a direct commercial product or service.
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Assessing conservation status and pursuing applicable management priorities for marine megafauna across multiple scales pose significant challenges. Because marine turtles exemplify these challenges, the IUCN Marine Turtle Specialist Group (MTSG) developed the ‘conservation priorities portfolio’ (CPP) framework in 2011 to evaluate population risk and threats for regional management units (RMUs). Here, the MTSG has updated the 2011 CPP framework through an inclusive assessment process. Expert elicitation results involving 145 individuals from 50 countries suggests that marine turtle conservation status appears to be improving, but significant challenges remain. Since the previous assessment, long-term abundance trends increased on average, and threat impact scores improved for nearly twice as many RMUs (53%) as worsened (28%) (≥10% threshold for changes in numeric scores). While expert-assessed threat impacts have generally decreased, fisheries bycatch remains the highest scored threat across regions and species. Risk-threat staus improved for most (54%) RMUs. Over 40% of RMUs were scored as low risk-low threats, of which 8 were green turtles Chelonia mydas RMUs. Less than 20% of RMUs were scored as high risk-high threats, of which 4 were leatherback turtles Dermochelys coriacea . Most high risk-high threats RMUs were in the Pacific Ocean, while most low risk-low threats RMUs were in the Atlantic Ocean. Eleven RMUs were evaluated as having critical data needs. Our results—also provided through an interactive data dashboard—underscore the importance of context-specific planning to effectively target limited conservation resources. Future assessments should further prioritize inclusion of under-represented topics, researchers, and regions to better address multi-faceted conservation challenges.
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DOI: 10.3354/esr01385
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