AB Sea Turtle Awareness

16/06/2026

WORLD SEA TURTLE DAY 💚🌊🐢

CHAPTER 9: THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

Over the past week, we've followed the journey of a sea turtle—from hatchling to nesting adult—and explored the many challenges they face along the way.

Yet despite these threats, sea turtles continue to return to our shores each year, reminding us that every action we take can make a difference.

Whether you keep beaches clean, reduce waste, report nesting activity, support conservation efforts, or simply share what you've learned, you are part of their story.

📚 Learn It.
🌊 Live It.
🐢 Protect It.

Their future depends on all of us.

💙 AB Sea Turtle Awareness is a 100% volunteer-based nonprofit organization. Every donation helps support beach monitoring, nest protection, turtle rescue and response, education, and community outreach throughout Antigua and Barbuda.

If you've enjoyed following Sea Turtle Week 2026 and would like to help protect sea turtles, please consider making a donation:

🌐 www.abseaturtles.com/donate-now

Together, we can help ensure sea turtles remain part of Antigua and Barbuda's natural heritage for generations to come.

15/06/2026

🐢🌊 CHAPTER 8: THE NEXT GENERATION🌊 🐢

Sea Turtle Week: Plastic Pollution / Leatherback Day

Every hatchling that emerges from a nest represents hope for the future. But before they have a chance to grow and reproduce, sea turtles must survive a world increasingly impacted by plastic pollution.

Leatherback sea turtles are especially vulnerable. Their diet consists mainly of jellyfish, and floating plastic bags can look remarkably similar in the water. When swallowed, plastic can cause internal injuries, blockages, malnutrition, and even death.

Plastic pollution affects sea turtles at every stage of life. Hatchlings can become trapped in debris on the beach, while juveniles and adults may ingest plastic or become entangled in discarded waste at sea.

The choices we make today will shape the future for the next generation of sea turtles. By reducing single-use plastics, properly disposing of waste, participating in beach cleanups, and supporting conservation efforts, we can help create cleaner oceans for sea turtles and all marine life.

Every piece of litter removed, every reusable item chosen, and every action taken to protect our oceans helps give the next generation a better chance at survival.

📚 Learn It.
🌊 Live It.
🐢 Protect It.

👀 Check out today's Stories to meet our featured sea turtle species and learn more about the impact of plastic pollution on sea turtles and our oceans.

14/06/2026

🐢🌊CHAPTER 7: RETURNING HOME🌊🐢

Sea Turtle Week: Climate Change / Green Sea Turtle Day

After spending years or even decades at sea, female sea turtles return to the beaches where they were born to lay their own eggs. But climate change is making that journey increasingly difficult.

Rising sea levels and coastal erosion are shrinking the nesting beaches sea turtles depend on. Stronger storms and higher tides can wash away nests, while changing weather patterns can alter nesting habitats.

Climate change is also affecting sea turtle hatchlings before they even emerge. The temperature of the sand determines whether hatchlings develop as male or female. As temperatures rise, nests are producing more females and fewer males, creating an imbalance that could affect future populations.

Sea turtles have survived for more than 100 million years, but the rapid pace of climate change presents a challenge unlike any they have faced before.

Protecting nesting beaches, reducing our environmental impact, and supporting conservation efforts can help ensure sea turtles continue to return home for generations to come.

📚 Learn It.
🌊 Live It.
🐢 Protect It.

👀 Check out today's Stories to meet our featured sea turtle species and learn more about how climate change is affecting sea turtles around the world.

13/06/2026

CHAPTER 6: A TURTLE WORTH PROTECTING
Sea Turtle Week: Turtle Shell Trade / Hawksbill Day

Hawksbill sea turtles are among the most beautiful and recognizable sea turtles in the world. Their striking amber, gold, and brown shells have made them a target for centuries.

In Antigua & Barbuda, the hawksbill holds special significance as our National Sea Creature, making its conservation an important part of our natural heritage.

For generations, hawksbill shell was used to create jewellery, combs, ornaments, eyeglass frames, and other decorative items. This trade, known as the tortoiseshell trade, contributed to severe declines in hawksbill populations around the world.
Although international trade in hawksbill shell is now banned, illegal trade still exists in some areas, and hawksbills remain critically endangered.

Today, hawksbill sea turtles face additional threats from habitat loss, climate change, pollution, and accidental capture in fishing gear. Every nesting female, every hatchling, and every protected nest plays an important role in the recovery of this remarkable species.

📚 Learn It.
🌊 Live It.
🐢 Protect It.

👀 Check out today's Stories to meet our featured sea turtle species and learn more about the challenges hawksbill sea turtles face.

12/06/2026

🐢🌊CHAPTER 5: DANGERS ALONG THE WAY🌊🐢
SEA TURTLE WEEK: Entanglement / Loggerhead Day

For sea turtles, the journey through the ocean is filled with hazards. Among the most serious are fishing gear interactions and entanglement.

Lost or abandoned fishing gear, often called "ghost gear," continues to trap and kill marine life long after it has been discarded. Sea turtles can become entangled in nets, ropes, and lines, causing injury, exhaustion, starvation, or drowning.

Gillnets are among the deadliest threats. Nearly invisible in the water, these walls of netting can entangle sea turtles as they travel, feed, or surface to breathe. Gillnet fisheries have contributed significantly to sea turtle declines worldwide, including dramatic reductions in some leatherback populations.

Trawl fisheries can also pose a risk when sea turtles become trapped in nets and are unable to reach the surface for air. Fortunately, Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) have been developed to provide an escape opening that allows turtles to exit the net while retaining the target catch. Where properly used, TEDs have proven highly effective at reducing turtle mortality.

Longline fishing presents another challenge. Thousands of baited hooks suspended from miles of fishing line can accidentally hook sea turtles, causing injury, stress, or death.

Reducing bycatch and improving fishing practices are critical steps toward protecting sea turtles. Continued innovation, stronger regulations, and wider adoption of proven solutions can help ensure that fisheries and sea turtles can coexist.

📚 Learn It.
🌊 Live It.
🐢 Protect It.

👀 Check out today's Stories to meet our featured sea turtle species and learn more about the dangers sea turtles face along their ocean journey.

11/06/2026

🐢🌊CHAPTER 4: THE CHOICES WE MAKE🌊🐢
SEA TURTLE WEEK - Consumption / Olive Ridley Day

Every choice we make leaves a footprint on the environment.

The products we buy, the waste we create, the seafood we consume, and the way we care for our beaches and oceans all have an impact on sea turtles and the habitats they depend on.

Simple actions can make a meaningful difference. Choosing reusable products, recycling, properly disposing of litter, selecting sustainable seafood, supporting environmentally responsible businesses, and helping keep beaches clean all contribute to healthier oceans and safer habitats for sea turtles.

Protecting sea turtles is not only about responding to threats—it is also about preventing them. The everyday choices we make, both at home and on the beach, can help reduce pollution, protect coastal habitats, and create a healthier future for marine life.

📚 Learn It.
🌊 Live It.
🐢 Protect It.

👀 Check out today's Stories to meet our featured sea turtle species and learn more about life in the open ocean.

10/06/2026

On the heels of a sea turtle win with the juvenile green rescue, and as we celebrate Sea Turtle Week, we are sad to report that, a beautiful adult green sea turtle was found off the coast of Antigua today. Sadly, she succumbed to injuries consistent with a boat strike.

She may have been in our waters to mate and then nest on our shores this season or just passing through. Instead, her journey ended too soon.

Sea turtles must regularly surface to breathe, making them especially vulnerable to boats and other watercraft. Green sea turtles spend much of their time feeding in our coastal waters, bays, and seagrass habitats—areas that are also popular with boaters and jet skiers.

You can help protect them by slowing down near shore, in bays, and in known sea turtle habitats. Staying alert on the water and reducing your speed gives both you and the turtles a better chance of avoiding a collision.

Every turtle matters. By sharing our waters responsibly, we can help ensure these ancient mariners continue to thrive in Antigua & Barbuda.

💙 Please boat responsibly.
🐢 Protect our sea turtles.


On the heels of a sea turtle win with the juvenile green rescue, and as we celebrate Sea Turtle Week, we are sad to report that a beautiful adult green sea turtle was found off the coast of Antigua today. Sadly, she succumbed to injuries consistent with a boat strike.ike.

10/06/2026

🐢🌊 CHAPTER 3: GROWING UP IN THE OCEAN 🌊🐢

Sea turtles spend pretty much all their lives in the ocean, relying on healthy marine habitats for food, shelter, and protection as they grow.

But not all pollution is easy to see.

Fertilizers, pesticides, sewage, fuel, and other contaminants can enter our waterways and eventually reach the sea. These pollutants can affect water quality, damage habitats such as coral reefs and seagrass beds, and impact the wildlife that depends on them.

Protecting sea turtles means protecting the oceans they call home.

Simple actions such as properly disposing of waste, reducing chemical runoff, and supporting clean waterways can help keep our marine environment healthy for future generations.

📚 Learn It.
🌊 Live It.
🐢 Protect It.

👀 Check out today's Stories to meet our featured sea turtle species and learn more about life in the open ocean.

10/06/2026