Olive Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys Olivacea) 5-Year Review : Summary and Evaluation

The review is based on new information since the 2007 review and through January 2014. The review does not generate new data through research or modeling and is not an exhaustive review of what is known about the olive ridley sea turtle. Rather, it provides an overview of the information on olive ridley biology, population distribution and trends, habitat, and threats that have emerged since the last 5-year review (NMFS and FWS 2007). The objective of the review is to assess whether the current listing classifications for the olive ridley sea turtle is appropriate. The section is divided into two subsections (A and B) based on the current listings -- Subsection A refers to the ‘Endangered’ breeding colony populations on the Pacific coast of Mexico and Subsection B refers to the ‘Threatened’ populations. As such, there is some repetition of information in the two subsections because the information either pertains to both listings or the origin of the affected individual turtles cannot be identified to a listed population due to in-water mixing of populations.