RIYADH: World Sea Turtle Day, celebrated annually on June 16, highlights Saudi Arabia’s role in protecting this threatened marine species.
Ras Baridi Beach, about 70 km north of Yanbu, is the Kingdom’s most important and well-known sea turtle nesting site.
The day was established in 2000, marking the birthday of Archie Carr, widely known as the “father of sea turtle biology.”
It comes amid a fragile environmental context: Of the seven sea turtle species worldwide, six are classified as vulnerable or endangered.
In Saudi Arabia, five species have been recorded in its waters. Two — green and hawksbill turtles — nest along its coasts.
Key nesting sites include the Farasan Islands, Jabal Hassan and Al-Waqadi islands, Ras Baridi north of Yanbu, and Karan and Jana islands in the Arabian Gulf.
The green turtle is listed as endangered, while the hawksbill turtle is critically endangered.
Monitoring data show a recovery at Ras Baridi, where the number of annual nesting females increased from 14–110 between 1982 and 1995 to 178 in 2018 and 330 in 2019.
The national program tagged about 6,065 green turtles and 912 hawksbill turtles between 2009 and 2017, tracking their migrations in cooperation with the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology.
In December 2025, the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve launched the first documented effort to fit a real-time tracking device on a gravid green turtle in the Red Sea.
Awareness campaigns led by Friends of the Red Sea also mark the occasion, focusing on threats such as plastic pollution and rising sand temperatures, which can alter hatchling sex ratios.
The Saudi Red Sea Authority, established in 2021, plays a key role in regulating maritime activity and protecting marine ecosystems along the coasts.
On the occasion, it also issued guidance promoting responsible marine practices to help protect sea turtles in the Red Sea.
Together, these efforts highlight the need to balance growing coastal tourism with the protection of nesting habitats for this long-lived marine species.
