page_title: Green sea turtle
section_title: Country-specific initiatives
hierarchical_section_title: Green sea turtle / Conservation / Country-specific initiatives
caption_attribution_description: English: A sea turtle at the Osaka Aquarium Photo taken by me on July 1, 2006.
context_page_description: The green sea turtle, also known as the green turtle, black turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus Chelonia. Its range extends throughout tropical and subtropical seas around the world, with two distinct populations in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, but it is also found in the Indian Ocean. The common name refers to the usually green fat found beneath its carapace, not to the color of its carapace, which is olive to black.
  This sea turtle's dorsoventrally flattened body is covered by a large, teardrop-shaped carapace; it has a pair of large, paddle-like flippers. It is usually lightly colored, although in the eastern Pacific populations parts of the carapace can be almost black. Unlike other members of its family, such as the hawksbill sea turtle, C. mydas is mostly herbivorous. The adults usually inhabit shallow lagoons, feeding mostly on various species of seagrasses. The turtles bite off the tips of the blades of seagrass, which keeps the grass healthy.
  Like other sea turtles, green sea turtles migrate long distances between feeding grounds and hatching beaches.
context_section_description: In addition to management by global entities such as the IUCN and CITES, specific countries around the world have undertaken conservation efforts.
  The Indonesian island of Bali has traditional uses that were considered sustainable, but have been questioned considering greater demand from the larger and wealthier human population. The harvest was the most intensive in the world. In 1999, Indonesia restricted turtle trade and consumption because of the decreasing population and threat of a tourist boycott. It rejected a request made by Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika in November 2009 to set a quota of 1,000 turtles to be killed in Hindu religious ceremonies. While conservationists respect the need for turtles in rituals, they wanted a smaller quota.
  Multiple Filipino protected areas have significant green sea turtle nesting and feeding sites. The most notable is Turtle Islands Wildlife Sanctuary, an UNESCO tentative site which encompasses an entire municipality and one of Southeast Asia's most important green sea turtle nesting sites. Other notable sites include the UNESCO tentaive site of El Nido-Taytay Management Resource Protected Area (ENTMRPA) and the UNESCO world heritage site of Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park (TRNP). The species is protected under Republic Act 9147 or the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act, while the sites where they live and nest are protected under the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act.
  Ecotourism is one initiative in Sabah, Malaysia. The island of Pulau Selingan is home to a turtle hatchery. Staff people place some of the eggs laid each night in a hatchery to protect them from predators. Incubation takes around sixty days. When the eggs hatch, tourists assist in the release of the baby turtles into the sea.
  The Hawaiian subpopulation has made a remarkable comeback and is now one focus of ecotourism and has become something of a state mascot. Students of Hawaii Preparatory Academy on the Big Island have tagged thousands of specimens since the early 1990s.
  In the United Kingdom the species is protected by a Biodiversity Action Plan, due to excess harvesting and marine pollution. The Pakistani-branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature has been initiating projects for secure turtle hatching since the 1980s. However, the population has continued to decline.
  In the Atlantic, conservation initiatives have centered around Caribbean nesting sites. The Tortuguero nesting beaches in Costa Rica have been the subject of egg-collection limits since the 1950s. The Tortuguero National Park was formally established in 1976, in part, to protect that region's nesting grounds. On Ascension Island, which contains some of the most important nesting beaches, an active conservation program has been implemented. Karumbé has been monitoring foraging and developmental areas of juvenile green turtles in Uruguay since 1999.
  Cayman Turtle Farm located in Grand Cayman in the northwest Caribbean Sea is the first farm to have achieved the second generation of green sea turtles bred, laid, hatched, and raised in captivity. Since its beginning in 1968, the farm has released over 31,000 turtles into the wild, and each year more captive-bred turtles are released into the Caribbean Sea from beaches around the island of Grand Cayman. Captive-bred turtles released from the farm as hatchlings or yearlings with "living tags," have now begun to return to nest on Grand Cayman as adults. On February 19, 2012 the farm released the first 2nd-generation captive-bred green sea turtle equipped with a  Position Tracking Transponder, or PTT (also known as a satellite tag). In addition, the farm provides turtle meat products to the local population for whom turtle has been part of the traditional cuisine for centuries. In so doing, the farm curtails the incentive to take turtles from the wild, which over the years in addition to the Cayman Turtle Farm's release of captive-bred turtles has enabled an increase in the number of turtles sighted in the waters around the island of Grand Cayman and nesting on its beac
caption: At the Osaka Aquarium, profile photo of turtle resting on bottom
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