
Like other marine turtles, hawksbills are threatened by the loss of nesting and feeding habitats, excessive egg collection, fishery-related mortality, pollution and coastal development.
Despite their protection under CITES, as well as under many national laws, there is still a large amount of trade in hawksbills products, and this probably constitutes the major threat to the species.
Hawksbills declined globally by over 80% during the last century.
There are difficulties in accurately assessing population size, but a recent estimate of adult nesting females of 8,000+ has been made. There are only 5 populations worldwide with more than 1,000 females nesting annually. There is evidence that a nesting colony on Milman Island in Queensland, Australia is the largest hawksbill population in the world.
Distribution

Hawksbill sea turtles have a wide range, found predominantly in tropical reefs of the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans. Of all the sea turtle species, E. imbricata is the one most associated with tropical waters. Two major subpopulations are acknowledged to exist, the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific subpopulations.
Atlantic subpopulation
In the Atlantic, hawksbill populations range as far west as the Gulf of Mexico and as far southeast as the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. They live off the Brazilian coast (specifically Bahia) through southern Florida and the waters off Virginia. The species' range extends as far north as the Long Island Sound and Massachusetts in the west Atlantic and the frigid waters of the English Channel in the east (the species' northernmost sighting to date).
In the Caribbean, the main nesting beaches are in the Lesser Antilles, Barbados, Guadeloupe, Tortuguero in Costa Rica, and in the Yucatan. They feed in the waters off Cuba and around Mona Island near Puerto Rico among other places.
Indo-Pacific subpopulation
In the Indian Ocean, hawksbills are a common sight along the east coast of Africa, including the seas surrounding Madagascar and nearby island groups, and all along the southern Asian coast, including the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and the coasts of the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. They are present across the Malay Archipelago and northern Australia. Their Pacific range is limited to the ocean's tropical and subtropical regions. In the west, it extends from the southwestern tips of the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Archipelago down to northern New Zealand.
The Philippines hosts several nesting sites, including the island of Boracay. A small group of islands in the southwest of the archipelago has been named the "Turtle Islands" because two species of sea turtles nest there: the hawksbill and the green sea turtle. In Hawaii, hawksbills mostly nest on the "main" islands of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, and Hawaii. In Australia, hawksbills are known to nest on Milman Island in the Great Barrier Reef. Hawksbill sea turtles nest as far west as Cousine Island in the Seychelles, where the species has been legally protected since 1994, and the population is showing some recovery. The Seychelles' inner islands and islets, such as Aldabra, are popular feeding grounds for immature hawksbills.
Eastern Pacific subpopulation
In the eastern Pacific, hawksbills are known to occur from the Baja Peninsula in Mexico south along the coast to southern Peru. Nonetheless, as recently as 2007, the species had been considered largely extirpated in the region. Important remnant nesting and foraging sites have since been discovered in Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Ecuador, providing new opportunities for research and conservation. In contrast to their traditional roles in other parts of the world, where hawksbills primarily inhabit coral reefs and rocky substrate areas, in the eastern Pacific, hawksbills tend to forage and nest principally in mangrove estuaries, such as those present in the Bahia de Jiquilisco (El Salvador), Gulf of Fonseca (Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Honduras), Estero Padre Ramos (Nicaragua), and the Gulf of Guayaquil (Ecuador). Multi-national initiatives, such as the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill Initiative, are currently pushing efforts to research and conserve the population, which remains poorly understood.
Physical Description
The shell is thin, flexible and highly coloured with elaborate patterns. The carapace of the hawksbill is unusual amongst the marine turtles as the scutes (the hard, bony plates that constitute the shell) are overlapping. These are often streaked and marbled with amber, yellow or brown, most evident when the shell material is worked and polished. As the English name suggests, the hawksbill has a narrow pointed beak reminiscent of a bird of prey.
In the past, the hawksbill was thought be less migratory than the other species of marine turtles. However, more recent work involving satellite telemetry has revealed that the species does make long distance migrations.
Size
Usually less than 1m in length, weighing 40-60kg.
Colour
The scutes are often streaked and marbled with amber, yellow or brown.
Breeding
Nesting occurs widely throughout the range, but tends to be more dispersed than in other species. There are seldom more than a few hundred nests on a single beach, and few major colonial nesting beaches. It has been suggested that this is simply a result of centuries of over-exploitation.The hawksbill appears to nest every 2 to 3 years and lays 60 to 200 eggs at a time. The hawksbill often nests close to coral reefs, and can be encountered by snorkellers and scuba-divers at localities where turtle habitat is in good condition.
Diet
Hawksbill turtles are mainly carnivorous and use their narrow beaks to extract invertebrate prey from crevices on the reef. Both sessile and mobile animals are eaten and hawksbills appear to be opportunistic predators, although sponges normally constitute a major proportion of their diet.
What are the main threats?
The main threats which affect marine turtles are:Habitat loss and degradation
Wildlife trade
Collection of eggs and meat for consumption
Incidental capture (bycatch)
Climate change
Pollution
Hawksbill turtles are particulary threatened by wildlife trade. They are much sought after throughout the tropics for their beautiful brown and yellow carapace plates that are manufactured into tortoiseshell items ("carey" or "bekko") for jewellery and ornaments. In recent decades, eastern Asia has provided an eager market for tortoiseshell. Despite their current protection under CITES and many national laws, there is still a disturbingly large amount of illegal trade in hawksbill shells and products.
Juvenile hawksbills, and other marine turtles, are often collected and stuffed for sale as tourist curios. Although many countries have banned this trade, it still occurs. Stuffed hawksbills were openly on sale at Hanoi's international airport in 1998. Harvest for domestic trade still occurs in many countries of the Caribbean, South-East Asia and Polynesia.
Source: http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/marine_turtles/hawksbill_turtle/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawksbill_sea_turtle