Degree of Threat: B : Moderately threatened throughout its range, communities provide natural resources that when exploited alter the composition and structure of the community over the long-term, but are apparently recoverable

Comments: Major threats, which vary throughout the range, include degradation of nesting habitat, including beach lighting, which may disorient hatchlings and/or nesting females; human predation on nesting females and turtles in foraging areas (e.g., for meat and use in commericial products); collection of eggs for human consumption; predation on eggs and hatchlings by raccoons, dogs, etc.; mortality in fishing gear and other entangling debris; collisions with power boats; contact with chemical pollutants; and epidemic outbreaks of fibropapilloma or "tumor" infections (Mitchell 1991, Ehrhart and Witherington 1992, Tuato`o-Bartley et al. 1993, Losey et al. 1994, Barrett 1996, NMFS and USFWS 2007). In the north, juveniles experience periodic mortality due to cold-stunning associated with rapid temperature declines in fall. See USFWS (1998) and NMFS and USFWS (2007) for further information on certain threats, including beach erosion, beach armoring, beach nourishment, artificial lighting, beach cleaning, increased human presence, recreational beach equipment, exotic dune and beach vegetation, nest loss to abiotic factors, predation, poaching, and disease.