Hawksbill sea turtle They flutter happily across the world’s tropical oceans with bellies full of glass-like shards. Researchers studying turtle digestive systems would be wise to be careful not to cut their hands into shards of the silica mineral that forms the skeletons of sea sponges, the mainstay of the hawksbill’s diet. “Few other organisms would eat these sponges,” says José Ortega, a sea turtle conservation expert and director of marine partnerships at the institute. Wildland AlliesWildlife Conservation Group. Named for their bird-like beaks, adult hawksbills can chew an average of about 1,200 pounds of sponge per year. Plucking sponges from corals prevents glassy invertebrates from overpopulating and creates gaps in the reef where small corals can attach and grow. “Hawksbills are like gardeners on a coral reef,” Ortega says.
Sadly, climate change threatens the coral reefs inhabited by these reptile gardeners. Falcons are also threatened with extinction because of their beauty. People have hunted turtles for thousands of years for their rich, shiny brown shells, which glow in the tropical sun with honey-colored stripes. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans used this lustrous material to make bowls, bracelets, combs, and other luxury items. More recently, it has served as a source for “tortoise-shell” glasses and other items (a misnomer, since marine reptiles are tortoises, not land-dwelling tortoises).
The popularity of the shell had predictable consequences for the turtle. The hawksbill population is now critically endangered, having declined by an estimated 80 percent or more in the past century. Trade of this species was banned internationally in 1977, but a strong black market, primarily in Southeast Asia, remains a major threat to its recovery. Stopping the illegal trade is challenging in part because shells and jewelry are often confiscated in a different country than where the turtles are caught, making it difficult to know where protection for these species is needed most. To help unravel this mystery, in 2022 the World Wildlife Fund launched an initiative called… ShalbankWhich aims to use genetic analysis to trace sea turtle products back to their points of origin. ShellBank works by collecting genetic material from illegally traded turtle parts, then comparing those genes to a database of sea turtle DNA collected from individuals in their native waters around the world. By working to create genetic “fingerprints” unique to each region, researchers hope to match the DNA of any mysterious shell to its source.
So far, the database contains about 13,000 entries for hawksbill and green sea turtles, but the team hopes to add more sea turtle species and see more policy and conservation outcomes over the next year or two, according to Christine MaddenShellBank Director and Co-Founder. Twenty-eight countries are already working with Shell Bank or have expressed interest, and some are contributing DNA from seized turtle parts. To date, the program has trained 120 law enforcement officers and 75 local researchers in Southeast Asia to collect, process and analyze the necessary genetic material. Their common goal: “We want to use ShellBank to dismantle the illegal trade in sea turtles,” says Madden.