Why Is the Hawksbill Critically Endangered? Tortoiseshell Trade

How much have hawksbills declined?

The hawksbill sea turtle was first listed as Endangered by the IUCN in 1982 and moved to Critically Endangered in 1996. The current global assessment, published in 2008, concluded that the population had declined by more than 80% over the last three generations. Because hawksbills take decades to mature, three generations cover roughly 100–135 years.

Counting sea turtles is difficult because researchers mainly see females when they come ashore to nest. Even so, records from beaches across the tropics tell a similar story: nesting colonies that once held thousands of females have shrunk to a few hundred, or vanished. In the eastern Pacific, hawksbills were thought to be almost gone until surveys in the late 2000s found remnant populations in mangrove estuaries.

The tortoiseshell trade

The hawksbill’s downfall began with its shell. Its thick, overlapping scutes are translucent and richly patterned in amber, brown and black, and they can be heated, molded and polished. Ancient Greeks and Romans used tortoiseshell for combs and jewelry; in China and later Europe it decorated boxes, fans and furniture; and in Japan, where it is called bekko, it became a prized craft material for hair ornaments and eyeglass frames.

Taking the shell almost always meant killing the turtle. A 2019 study of historical trade records, including archives of Japanese imports, estimated that about 9 million hawksbills were killed for the international tortoiseshell trade between 1844 and 1992, several times more than earlier estimates. Before it stopped imports in the early 1990s, Japan alone was importing roughly 30,000 kg (66,000 lb) of raw shell a year.

The CITES ban and illegal trade today

Since 1977, the hawksbill has been listed in Appendix I of CITES, the international convention on wildlife trade, which bans commercial international trade in the species and its products. Some countries used legal reservations to continue importing for years afterward, but Japan, the biggest market, ended imports in the early 1990s. In the United States, the hawksbill has been protected as Endangered since 1970.

Illegal trade has not disappeared. Bracelets, earrings, hair clips and stuffed turtles made from hawksbill shell still appear in tourist markets and online in parts of Latin America, the Caribbean and Southeast Asia. Bringing such items into the United States or the European Union is illegal, and customs officers regularly seize them.

Eggs, meat and bycatch

Hawksbill eggs are still dug up and eaten or sold in many coastal communities, and the turtles are hunted for meat in some places despite legal protection, even though their sponge diet can make the meat poisonous. Removing eggs year after year means that few new turtles join the population.

Fishing gear is another major killer. Hawksbills are caught by accident in gillnets and on baited hooks set in coastal waters, where they drown or are badly injured. This unintended capture, known as bycatch, affects all sea turtles; the bigger picture is explained in why are sea turtles endangered?

Losing reefs and beaches

Hawksbills depend on healthy coral reefs for food and shelter, and they feed mainly on reef sponges, as described in what do hawksbill turtles eat? Coral bleaching, disease, pollution and runoff from land are degrading reefs across the tropics.

Their nesting beaches are under pressure too. Hotels, roads and seawalls can remove the dry sand turtles need, while artificial lights deter females from nesting and lure hatchlings away from the sea. Rising sea levels and stronger storms wash away beaches and flood nests. On many islands, introduced animals such as mongooses, rats, feral pigs and dogs dig up eggs.

Why hawksbills recover so slowly

Even when hunting stops, hawksbills cannot bounce back quickly. NOAA estimates that they take about 20–35 years to reach maturity, and females usually nest only every two to three years. Most eggs and hatchlings never survive to adulthood; see how many baby sea turtles survive? for the odds.

Climate change adds another risk. In sea turtles, warmer sand produces more female hatchlings, so heating beaches could skew populations toward females over time, as explained in does temperature decide a turtle’s sex?

Are hawksbill numbers recovering?

There is good news in some places. Where nesting beaches and feeding grounds have been protected for decades, numbers have risen. Examples include parts of the Caribbean, such as Mona Island off Puerto Rico, where about 500–1,000 hawksbill nests are now laid each year; the Seychelles, where hawksbills have been legally protected since 1994; and the Arnavon Islands in the Solomon Islands, where NOAA reports encouraging signs of recovery. In the eastern Pacific, about 700 females now nest each year from Mexico to Peru.

Many other populations are still small or declining, however, and the species remains Critically Endangered worldwide. Its recovery depends on stopping the shell trade, protecting nests and reefs, and reducing bycatch, along with choices by tourists, such as refusing to buy any tortoiseshell souvenirs. The hawksbill appears alongside other threatened species in our list of endangered animals.