This feels rare and beautiful.

The green turtle has officially been taken off the endangered list. After decades of beach patrols, smarter fishing gear, and local community work, the IUCN now classifies the species as Least Concern.

Here’s what that looks like on the ground. In Florida, green turtle nests on core index beaches climbed from under 300 in 1989 to almost 61,000 in 2023. That’s an eightyfold rise. In 2024, counts stayed high across monitored beaches.

In Hawai‘i, protections have driven steady growth of about 5% per year for nesting females, from just 67 in 1973 to nearly 500 in recent years.

Zooming out, the global population has grown by roughly 28% since the 1970s. It didn’t happen overnight. It took protected beaches, Turtle Excluder Devices, and thousands of small actions adding up.

It’s still not “job done.” Some regional groups are struggling. Tortuguero, Costa Rica, has seen recent declines tied to poaching and other pressures. Climate change and plastic continue to bite. The win is real, and so is the need to keep going.

For today, though, let’s take a breath. We helped pull a giant sea turtle back from the edge. That’s worth celebrating.

References
Arctic seals threatened by climate change, birds decline globally - IUCN Red List update. IUCN
Red List Assessments - Green (Chelonia mydas). IUCN-SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group
Index Nesting Beach Survey Totals (1989-2024). Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle. NOAA Fisheries, Pacific Islands
Recent decline of green turtle Chelonia mydas nesting at Tortuguero, Costa Rica. Endangered Species Research

Disclaimer: Images are generated using AI for illustration purposes only.

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