Sea turtle conservation in South China Sea bears fruit

HAIKOU, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Amid the turquoise waters and stunning coastlines of the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea, a crucial mission is quietly taking shape, namely the safeguarding of sea turtles.

Conservation efforts are showing tangible results, with 115 sea turtle nests discovered across the Xisha Islands between January and mid-August this year, according to the marine reserve management bureau of Sansha City in south China's Hainan Province.

After years of protection and ecological restoration, a total of 1,734 nests with green sea turtle eggs were found in the Xisha Islands from 2017 to 2023, the bureau said.

The Xisha Islands serve as an important habitat for green sea turtles. In China, 90 percent of the sea turtle population resides in the South China Sea, of which green sea turtles account for more than 80 percent of the total.

Since the 1980s, global sea turtle populations and habitats have experienced a sharp decline due to long-term overfishing, illegal trade, overexploitation, marine pollution and other human activities, compounded by climate change.

To address these threats, Sansha has implemented a comprehensive scientific protection system for sea turtles, featuring 24-hour monitoring and safeguarding of nesting turtles, as well as the development of key conservation policies.

A sea turtle protection center has been established on Beidao Island, part of the Xisha Islands, where research teams from multiple universities have set up laboratories and research bases. These teams are conducting studies on the status of green sea turtle populations, sea turtle ecology and conservation biology.

"With the support and help of local government, we did research on 11 islands and reefs in the Xisha Islands," said Zhang Ting, a sea turtle researcher from Hainan Normal University.

"We comprehensively surveyed the survival situation of sea turtles and obtained a lot of precious data and samples," Zhang added.

Sea turtles have been listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, signaling their endangered status.

In February 2021, China's revised national list of key protected wild animals included five species of sea turtles as top-priority protected wildlife.