The conservation and management activities for sea turtles in Japan

Abstract

Five species of sea turtles are found in Japan. These are the loggerhead turtle, green turtle, hawksbill turtle, leatherback turtle and olive ridley turtle. The loggerhead, green and hawksbill turtle nest in Japan while the leatherback and olive ridley only inhabit the waters of Japan. Conservation of sea turtles in Japan by NGOs became popular in the late 1980s and the Government of Japan also got involved in the conservation and management of sea turtles. Conservation and research activities on sea turtles including monitoring of nesting sites, egg transplant, tagging by flipper tags, passive integrated transponders, and platform terminal transmitters, monitoring of sea turtle by-catch by tuna longline fishery, studies on mitigating sea turtle by-catch, and education campaigns regarding sea turtle conservation. These are conducted by NGOs, the Fisheries Agency, the Fisheries Research Agency, and the academe.