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Love A Sea Turtle (LAST) is dedicated to environmental stewardship by engagement of youth in leadership development, marine and ocean conservation and service learning, inspiring others to get involved in year-round community service, and providing nature-based outdoor programs for underrepresented youth.

Sea turtles are among the largest living reptiles. They have scales and a bony shell, are cold-blooded, breathe air, and lay their eggs on land. Sea turtles are long-lived, although scientists are uncertain how long they live because there is no known way to determine their age. Unlike the land turtles from which they evolved, sea turtles spend almost their entire lives in the sea. They glide gracefully through the water with flipper-like forelimbs and a streamlined shell. Sea turtles frequently come to the surface to breathe when active, but they can remain underwater for several hours when resting.

Of the six sea turtle species that are found in U.S. waters or that nest on U.S. beaches, all are designated as either threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Endangered status means a species is considered in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range; threatened means it is likely to become endangered.

Sea turtles are highly migratory and utilize the waters of more than one country in their lifetimes. Thus, sea turtles are shared resources among many nations. Loggerhead, Green, Leatherback, and Hawksbill sea turtles regularly nest on beaches within the U.S. and all depend upon U.S. coastal waters for foraging and migratory habitat during certain stages of their life history. The Kemp's Ridley sea turtle, which occasionally nests in the U.S., is dependent on the shallow coastal habitats of the U.S. east coast and the Gulf of Mexico for foraging and developmental habitat. However, all of these species migrate outside U.S. boundaries during their lifetimes. In addition, the Olive Ridley sea turtle does not nest in the U.S., but during feeding migrations, Olive Ridley turtles nesting in the Pacific may disperse into waters of the southwestern U.S., occasionally as far north as Oregon. Because sea turtles are shared resources, conservation efforts for turtle populations in one country may be jeopardized by activities in another country. Protecting sea turtles on U.S. nesting beaches and in U.S. waters therefore is not sufficient alone to ensure the continued existence of these species. Cooperation among nations is critical to ensure the survival of sea turtles.

The Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service share Federal jurisdiction for sea turtles with the Fish and Wildlife Service having lead responsibility on the nesting beaches and the National Marine Fisheries Service, the marine environment. Federal responsibilities and programs include development and implementation of recovery plans, land acquisition, cooperative programs with States, consultation with other federal agencies on projects they fund, permit, or conduct; international cooperation; promulgation of regulations to reduce take; permitting of activities for research or education involving take; and development of habitat conservation plans.

In 2009, a Sea Turtle, Inc. Intern designed a prosthetic device to help Allison swim! It was the first successful sea turtle prosthetic in the world. Since then, we have gone through several prosthetics, each one improving on the last. According to the Sea Turtle Conservancy, as few as one in 10,000 sea turtle eggs reach adulthood. Olive ridley turtles nest in huge groups called arribadas. These arribadas can attract animals such as vultures, coatis, coyotes, jaguars, and raccoons, who may gather near the beach even before the arribada begins. Organizing the world's sea turtle information and making it universally accessible and useful.

For more information on the Fish and Wildlife Service’s sea/marine turtle program, write to:

Regional Sea Turtle Coordinator
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
7915 Baymeadows Way, Suite 200
Jacksonville, Florida 32256
Telephone: (904) 731-3336
Fax: (904) 731-3045
Email: seaturtle @ fws.gov

Program Officer, Marine Turtle Conservation Fund
Division of International Conservation
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
4401 N. Fairfax Drive, MS100
Arlington, VA 22203
Phone: (703) 358-2277
Fax: (703) 358-2115

Recent Initiatives

World Sea Turtle Day 2018 USFWS Blog

The southeastern U.S. represents one of the most important nesting areas of loggerhead sea turtles in the world. But very few people realize just how far loggerheads will travel before they return to these beaches to nest. Join us as we travel along the life stages of a loggerhead sea turtle and find out how you can help make their journey successful...

Full Blog Post Here

NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reclassified the green sea turtle under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) on April 6, 2016.

• Federal Register Notice - PDF

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated about 685 miles of coastal beach habitat as important for the recovery of the threatened Northwest Atlantic Ocean population of loggerhead sea turtles, as directed by the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The terrestrial critical habitat areas include 88 nesting beaches in coastal counties located in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. These beaches account for 48 percent of an estimated 1,531 miles of coastal beach shoreline and about 84 percent of the documented nesting (numbers of nests) within these six states.

Details including maps available here.

• NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service designated marine critical habitat for the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. For details visit http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/turtles/criticalhabitat_loggerhead.htm .

Sea Turtle Subphylum

• 2014 Olive Ridley Sea Turtle ESA Five-Year Review - PDF 580KB
• 2013 Leatherback Sea Turtle ESA Five-Year Review - PDF - 510KB
• 2013 Hawksbill Sea Turtle ESA Five-Year Review - PDF - 1.45MB
• 2009 Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) status review: Loggerhead Biological Review Team Report to the National Marine Fisheries Service

• Frequently Asked Questions related to the 2007 five-year reviews

• Track Sea Turtles - This links to the tracking site for five loggerhead turtles outfitted
  with satellite transmitters at the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge in Florida in 2000.
• SeaTurtle.org - This sea turtle link provides a clearhouse of sorts for sea turtle information from around the world.

• 'Sea Turtles Dig The Dark' - Television Public Service Announcement on beach front lighting
• 'You Can Help Sea Turtles' brochure - PDF 324KB
• Sea Turtle Nesting Activity Tearsheet- Color - 2 pages - PDF - 406KB (print on 8.5x11 or scale to 11x17 ledger.)
• Sea Turtle Wildlife Fact Sheet - B&W- 2 pages - PDF - 268KB
• Link to B-roll of nesting Sea Turtle courtesy the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) -

• 2015 Sand Placement Programmatic Biological Opinion - PDF 5.0MB -
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sea Turtle Permit Information - fillable PDF - 51KB >
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Permit Sourcebook (Go to Endangered Species, then Sea Turtles)
• Standard Permit Conditions for Care and Maintenance of Captive Sea Turtles (11/13/2019) - PDF -365KB

• Appendix A - Quarterly Report Form (ver. 4) - PDF - 536KB
• Appendix B - Non-releaseable Sea Turtle Annual Report Form (ver. 3) - PDF - 551KB
• 2016 USFWS Process for Telemetry Attachment on Nesting Sea Turtles and Sea Turtles Housed in a Rehabilitation Facility - PDF - 370KB

• County Incidental Take Permits & associated Habitat Conservation Plans

• Sea Turtle.org - This sea turtle link provides a clearhouse of sorts for sea turtle information from around the world.

For over 40 years, we’ve focused on sea turtle conservation! Due to the efforts of incredible volunteers, we’ve been able to achieve the following:

• Ensure 1,300+ nests have been laid under our watch
• Watch 75,000+ hatchlings emerge from nests and make it safely to sea
• Remove 10,000+ pieces of trash from beaches each year

Help Sea Turtles

Five ways you can help sea turtles.

Sea Turtle Information

Want to know more about sea turtles?

Sea Tortoise

Sea Turtle Stranding & Salvage

Year round, Sea Turtle Trackers responds to calls about stranded turtles. Live turtles are
transported to authorized rehabilitation centers for care.

Community Outreach & Conservation

We work cooperatively with our local community to improve the condition of our beaches. Our goal is to make our area as turtle friendly as possible while helping visitors and residents enjoy this great place. We organize beach clean-ups throughout the year, which is a quick and easy way to get involved!

Education

Sea Turtle Drawing

Sea Turtle Trackers takes every opportunity to educate visitors and residents on the importance of caring for our local ecosystem.