Supporting sea turtle research in South Africa

Sea turtles play important roles in keeping marine ecosystems healthy, but centuries of overexploitation made many populations around the world disappear before their importance was fully realised and understood. Now, conservation efforts are focused not only on bringing turtles back, but also on understanding and restoring their ecological roles in today’s altered habitats.

In South Africa, loggerhead and leatherback turtles that nest on our beaches every summer have been studied for over 60 years. However, green and hawksbill turtles that live quietly on our reefs year-round, where they spend decades shaping and maintaining these habitats, remain largely understudied.

I’m Natalie dos Santos (Nats), a PhD student at Nelson Mandela University, working to fill these knowledge gaps on sea turtles in the Aliwal Shoal and iSimangaliso MPAs.

Building on underwater sur...