Turning turtles from the brink is major win

The green turtle has been rescued from the brink of extinction in what scientists are calling a major conservation victory.

- with Sue Wilkinson

Green turtles are now off endangered list

Once hunted extensively for turtle soup, its eggs as a delicacy and decorative shells, its numbers plummeted and it had been listed as endangered since the 1980s.

Thanks to decades of global conservation efforts - from protecting eggs and releasing hatchlings on beaches, to reducing accidental capture in fishing nets - new data shows green turtle populations are rebounding.

"We must use this win as a catalyst to achieve numerous other wins," said Dr Nicolas Pilcher, of the Marine Research Foundation, a nonprofit based in Sabah, Malaysia.

Green turtles are one of the largest species of sea turtles, named for the greenish colour of their body fat which comes from their plant-based diet.