New Zealand has five of the seven species of marine turtles. Greens, hawksbills, leatherbacks, olive ridleys and loggerheads - all of those turtle species found in the Pacific are also found in our waters.
In 2025, thanks to decades of conservation, scientists reclassified green turtles as no longer threatened. However most other species of marine turtles and some green turtle subpopulations including those in the West Pacific are globally endangered or vulnerable. The threats they face include:
Getting accidentally caught in fishing gear is a big threat to marine turtles. Hundreds of endangered turtles have been caught in New Zealand’s commercial fisheries. The majority are leatherback turtles from the critically endangered western Pacific subpopulation.
Plastic pollution affects sea turtles through ingestion and entanglement. Marine turtles often eat plastic by mistaking it for their natural food. They can also become entangled in plastic waste, particularly discarded fishing gear, also known as “ghost gear".
Turtles have temperature-dependent sex determination. The temperature of the sand their eggs incubate in determines if the hatchlings will be male (low) or female (high). This means that rising temperatures due to climate change can skew sex ratios.
Advocating for more Marine Protected Areas both in New Zealand and the wider Pacific, including Blue Corridors (protected migration routes).
Supporting the international campaign for No Plastics in Nature working towards an UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution as well as encouraging personal action to reduce, re-use and recycle.