Royal Reserve Launches Satellite Tracking of Red Sea Turtles

The Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve launched a live satellite tracking programme in Tabuk for hawksbill and green turtles, including the first known tagging of a pre nesting egg carrying green turtle in the Red Sea. The tags will transmit real time movement data to identify foraging grounds migratory corridors and nesting areas. Three critically endangered hawksbill turtles and seven green turtles were captured and tagged.

The programme is led by the reserve’s senior marine ecologist Ahmed Mohammed and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology’s Beacon Development senior marine megafauna specialist Hector Barrios Garrido. The reserve stated that the data will address a regional knowledge gap and support unified conservation strategies. The initiative expands turtle nest monitoring and protection that has been in place since 2023.

The reserve protects 4,000 sq. km of Red Sea waters equal to 1.8% of Saudi Arabia’s marine area and a 170 km coastline linking Neom and Red Sea Global to form an 800 km protected coastline corridor. It is a refuge for five of the world’s seven turtle species and a breeding ground for green and hawksbill turtles, with ranger teams monitoring nesting sites that are critical to natal homing.

While the International Union for Conservation of Nature recently reclassified green turtles globally, they remain regionally vulnerable and conservation dependent. All five marine turtle species in the Red Sea are listed under the Convention on Migratory Species, which Saudi Arabia joined in 1979.