Caretta caretta

Status: Vulnerable. Sea turtles play a vital role in grazing on sea grass and maintaining healthy sea bed habitat, but of seven species of sea turtles, 3 are endangered, 3 are vulnerable, and the last species does not have enough information gathered about it to assess. Their populations are at risk because of poaching, marine debris, beach development, climate change changing sand nesting temperatures, and bycatch.

In ancient Polynesia, sea turtles were seen as divine navigators offering guidance from the gods. They are creatures who are of both land and sea, and so were seen as intermediaries to humans (creatures of land) with the otherworld and afterlife (the unknown depths of the sea). The prosperity of islanders was so intimately tied with the sea and its bounty, for their livelihood, food, shelter, and safety from storms, and they looked to the movement of turtles between land and sea as an omen for their own fortunes. Each year, the turtles return to the lagoons and it is seen as an indication of the health and peace of those waters.