Fewer than 2,500 reproductively viable females remain in the western Pacific, a fraction of historical populations. On the Kei Islands in East Indonesia, one of their last refuges, hunting of these animals has declined by 85 percent since 2017. The reason is not a government ban, but a protection program that turned coastal communities into conservation partners.
The World's Most Endangered Sea Turtle Population
The leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) is the largest living turtle species and the only sea turtle without a fixed bony shell. Adult animals grow over two meters long and can weigh more than 900 kilograms. They undertake the longest migration routes of all marine animals, swimming from nesting sites in Indonesia to the North Pacific off Canada and Alaska, where they hunt jellyfish. NOAA Fisheries has classified the leatherback sea turtle as endangered since 1970.
The western Pacific subpopulation is considered the most threatened of all leatherback populations worldwide. NOAA Fisheries estimates the number of reproductively viable females in the western Pacific at fewer than 2,500 animals, a fraction of historical populations. The Kei Islands in Maluku Province (East Indonesia) are important breeding sites and rest stops on the migration routes of this population. For NOAA biologists, the Kei Archipelago is one of the central refuges for the western Pacific leatherback population. Coastal communities in the region have hunted sea turtles for generations and harvested eggs from nests, partly for food and partly as a source of income. Additionally, ghost nets (fishing equipment lost and drifting in the oceans) threaten the animals on their migration routes. WWF estimates that between 500,000 and one million tons of such ghost nets enter the ocean annually, killing sea turtles, whales, and seabirds.
From Traditional Hunting to Community-Based Conservation
Since 2017, NOAA Fisheries, WWF USA, and WWF Indonesia have cooperated to reduce pressure on the western Pacific leatherback turtles. Rather than top-down government bans, the program relies on local responsibility. Coastal communities developed a monitoring program together with WWF Indonesia that systematically tracks nest numbers, hatch rates, and sea turtle observations on nesting beaches. Local residents receive equipment and economic incentives for participation. Andreas Hero Ohoiulun of WWF Indonesia coordinates the program. NOAA describes his approach as locally driven, community-based, and designed for long-term sustainability.
The result: The number of hunted leatherback turtles and eggs harvested from nests has declined by 85 percent since the program began, according to NOAA. In parallel, the Kei Kecil Marine Conservation Area was established as a legally anchored marine protected area with support at local, district, and provincial levels. It regulates fishing zones and restricts access to nesting beaches. The combination of community engagement and formal protection structures distinguishes this program from purely state-mandated measures, which often fail in Indonesia due to lack of local acceptance.
Structural challenges remain considerable. The 85 percent reduction in hunting applies to the immediate Kei Islands region. However, the animals spend most of their lives in the open ocean, where the local protection program has no effect. Ghost nets, bycatch in industrial fishing, and marine pollution threaten the population on its long migration route and escape any local conservation approach.
What the Atlantic and Caribbean Show
The comparison between the Pacific and Atlantic leatherback populations demonstrates how critical early protection is. The northwestern Atlantic population, which nests on beaches in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname, is considered significantly more stable than its Pacific counterpart. Systematic protection programs began there in the 1960s and 1970s. Zoologist Archie Carr founded the Caribbean Conservation Corporation and developed the first community-based sea turtle conservation models that many programs worldwide now follow.
At the Caribbean beach of Tortuguero in Costa Rica, the primary nesting site of the loggerhead sea turtle in Central America, a similar approach has been established for decades: coastal communities undertake nest monitoring, receive income from sea turtle ecotourism, and have an economic interest in the animals' survival. Nest numbers at Tortuguero have recovered over decades after a dramatic decline in the 1960s. The difference from the western Pacific lies in the time lag: what took four decades in the Caribbean must happen much faster in the western Pacific with fewer than 2,500 remaining females.
Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands as Next Targets
The western Pacific leatherback sea turtle does not nest only on the Kei Islands. Other important nesting sites are located in Indonesian Papua and in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. According to NOAA, the number of nests at several of these beaches has declined over the past decades. NOAA and WWF have reportedly already made contact with communities in these regions to develop similar protection programs.
The crucial question is funding continuity. A locally based monitoring network requires years of external support in the form of equipment, training, and coordination before it can function independently. The Kei model demonstrates that this effort is effective. Whether and how quickly it can be transferred to other breeding regions of the western Pacific depends on whether international conservation organizations and donor countries provide the necessary funds in the long term.