Hawksbill sea turtles roam the tropical waters of more than 100 countries. Their populations have crashed by 80% or more in the past century, hunted for their beautiful shells, killed by plastic, and starved of coral reefs. They are now Critically Endangered across every ocean.
An Ancient Mariner, Pushed to the Edge
The hawksbill sea turtle (*Eretmochelys imbricata*) lives in the tropical and subtropical waters of more than 100 countries. After centuries of hunting for its shell, meat and eggs, its numbers have fallen by an estimated 80% or more over the past century.
The IUCN lists the hawksbill as Critically Endangered globally.
The Shell That Doomed Them
Hawksbills have the most striking shell of any sea turtle, a warm amber-brown mosaic called tortoiseshell, prized for centuries in jewellery, haircombs, eyeglass frames, and decorative objects. A 2019 study of 150 years of tortoiseshell trade records estimated that the trade took some 9 million hawksbills, more than six times earlier estimates. International trade is now banned under CITES, but illegal harvest persists.
But the shell trade is only one threat. Hawksbills depend almost entirely on coral reefs for the sponges they eat. As ocean warming bleaches and kills coral on a global scale, hawksbills lose both food and nesting habitat simultaneously. Plastic ingestion, fishing bycatch, and coastal development add to the pressure on every front.
The Role Nobody Else Can Fill
Hawksbills are not just victims. They are the only sea turtle that can survive on a diet made up mainly of sponges, which they pull from cracks in the reef with their narrow beaks, and NOAA describes them as playing a key role in how marine ecosystems function.
Protected beaches, enforced fishing bycatch limits, and coral reef conservation are all part of their recovery. And it can work. In Solomon Islands, three communities near the Arnavon Islands set up a protected area in 1995, and their rangers still patrol the nesting beaches and protect the eggs. Two decades of conservation and monitoring there are showing encouraging signs of recovery.
The hawksbill sea turtle is not beyond saving. But the window, like the reef it depends on, is closing faster than most people realise.
_Sources: IUCN, "Guardians of the Reef: Protecting the Hawksbill Turtle in Arnavon", March 2026. NOAA Fisheries, "Hawksbill Turtle" species page, updated 27 July 2026. Sea Turtle Conservancy, "Sea Turtles" (threats: illegal shell trade). Miller et al., "The historical development of complex global trafficking networks for marine wildlife", Science Advances, 27 March 2019._