Help Us Save The Turtles!

1.  Don’t buy souvenirs or other items made from critically endangered hawksbill shell. The tortoiseshell trade is the biggest threat to hawksbills. When traveling, ask vendors what souvenirs are made of and when in doubt, don’t purchase items in question. Learn more about the turtleshell trade here.

• See our How To Identify & Avoid Hawksbill Turtleshell guide to learn how to recognize turtleshell and other similar looking materials or download our app below.

2.  Help Heal The Climate: Climate change affects the health of coral reefs which are vital to the hawksbills survival. A warming planet also skews sex ratios in baby turtles and erodes nesting beaches. You can advocate for businesses and governments to reduce emissions and reduce your own as well. Learn more about sea turtles and climate change.

• Learn some simple ways to reduce your carbon footprint here.

3.  Avoid eating seafood or choose responsibly caught seafood. Sea turtles are vulnerable to commercial fishing methods like trawling, longlines, and drift gillnets, becoming unwanted catch (also known as "bycatch") that is discarded like trash. Learn more about sea turtles and fisheries.

• To choose better seafood, check out Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch

4.  Just say NO to plastics! Sea turtles and other ocean life mistake plastic as food and ingest it. An estimated that more than 100 million marine animals die each year as a result of eating or getting entangled in plastic. Advocate for laws reducing plastic use and for companies to reduce their plastic waste. Learn about our Sea Turtles & Plastic campaign to get plastic out of turtle habitats.

• Avoid using disposable plastic bags, bottles, & skip the straw. Check out our tips to reduce your use of plastics or sign up for our Travelers Against Plastic Newsletter.

5.  Leave No Trace. This means practicing good practices when visiting a turtle nesting beach. Remove your trash (and trash left by others) and any obstacles that may become hazards for nesting sea turtles and hatchlings like beach furniture, holes, umbrellas, and sandcastles. Turtles need clean and clear beaches to survive.

• Learn about responsible turtle watching here.

6.  Join a sea turtle conservation tour! Witnessing a sea turtle nesting or baby turtles erupting from a nest is pure magic. Proceeds from our trips directly benefit local sea turtle conservation efforts and nearby communities.

7. Turtles dig the dark! Sea turtles need dark beaches for nesting and for navigating their way to the ocean. Light from beachfront development can deter females from coming ashore to nest as well as lead newly born hatchling away from the water and towards danger. Learn more about sea turtle beach etiquette here.

8. Hang onto those balloons! Helium balloons can travel long distances, get caught in electric lines, and hurt animals like birds and sea turtles, which similarly to plastic bags can be mistaken for jellyfish.

• Learn more about reducing pollution from balloons from the folks at Balloons Blow. 

9. Choose sunscreen carefully. Chemicals in some sunscreen damages coral reefs and pollutes turtle habitat. Avoid sunscreen with "oxybenzone" and look for "Reef Friendly" brands & avoid sprays that pollute the sand where turtles nest. Check out this article in Vogue about the best ways to avoid sunburn. 

10. Support our turtle conservation programs! We help protect turtle nesting beaches, clean plastic from turtle habitats, work to end the tortoiseshell trade, & more.

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