RIYADH — Saudi Arabia, with a long history of sea turtle conservation, is highlighting one of its sites — Ras Baridi Beach —on June 16, World Sea Turtle Day, showcasing its efforts to protect these endangered animals. Located about 70 kilometers north of Yanbu, Rad Baridi is considered Saudi Arabia’s most important and well-known sea turtle nesting site. Currently, of the seven sea turtle species found worldwide, six are internationally classified as vulnerable or endangered. The green turtle is classified as endangered, while the hawksbill turtle is critically endangered. In the Kingdom, five of the seven species have been recorded in its waters. Two species — the green turtle and the hawksbill turtle — nest along Saudi Arabia’s shores. Key nesting sites are distributed across the Farasan Islands, Jabal Hassan and Al-Waqqadi islands, Ras Baridi north of Yanbu, and the Karan and Jana islands in the Arabian Gulf. Monitoring data indicate a notable recovery at Ras Baridi, where the annual number of nesting females increased from 14 to 110 between 1982 and 1995, then to 178 and 330 in 2018 and 2019, respectively. On the research front, the national program tagged around 6,065 green turtles and 912 hawksbill turtles between 2009 and 2017, tracking their migrations via satellite in cooperation with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology. In a more recent development, the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve launched the first documented operation in December 2025 to install a real-time tracking device on a nesting green turtle in the Red Sea. The Kingdom also provides awareness campaigns led by Red Sea experts, practitioners, and specialists. These efforts focus on the major threats sea turtles are facing, foremost among them plastic waste, which turtles may ingest, mistaking it for jellyfish. Rising sand temperatures also pose a risk by disrupting the male-to-female ratio, as the sex of hatchlings is determined by nest temperature. The Saudi Red Sea Authority, established in 2021 to regulate marine and navigational activities and protect the marine environment, oversees tourism along these coasts. The authority issued a message highlighting responsible practices for recreational and marine activities to help protect sea turtles in the Red Sea. Together, these efforts underscore that the continued success of sea turtle nesting seasons along Saudi Arabia’s coasts depends on balancing rapid tourism development with the protection of this long-lived species’ habitats.
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