Hawksbill turtle. Image from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eretmochelysimbricata.jpg
Effective today, it is illegal to kill any turtle in the waters surrounding the Bahamas.
Five of the world’s seven sea turtles spend some portion of their life in the waters and on the beaches of the Bahamas. Previously, it was only illegal to kill hawksbill sea turtles.
In addition to the great work of many groups on the ground in the Bahamas, Oceana played a pivotal role. Our campaigners wrote formal letters and you, our Wavemakers, emailed the Bahamian government in the thousands, voicing your support for our flippered friends.
Helping to make our argument for protecting sea turtles was our report Sea the Value: Quantifying the Value of Marine Life to Divers, which showed scuba divers are willing to pay more money for dives on which they see sea turtles.
Congratulations to all of those who worked so hard for this victory
