Green turtles and hawksbill turtles forage throughout the coastal areas surrounding the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Leatherback turtles were slaughtered on the nesting beaches for their oil, and their eggs were harvested for food. A substantial green turtle fishery for food and export to Europe existed historically, though the Virgin Islands were not a significant green turtle nesting area but instead were a juvenile foraging ground.
Hawksbill turtles are solitary nesters throughout their range.
By the 1950's the sea turtle populations were severely depleted, especially the formerly abundant juvenile populations of green and hawksbill turtles. Subsistence hunting continued, and to meet the demands of a growing human population, sea turtles were imported from other islands. In 1972 Virgin Islands' law finally made it illegal to harvest sea turtles on their nesting beaches and allowed harvest in the water only between October and April. Coastal and upland developments that are constructed without concern for their downstream effects cause degradation of nesting beaches, seagrasses, coral reefs, and mangrove areas, which are all critical components of sea turtle habitat. Such light forces nesting turtles to move away from protected public beaches into adjacent areas, where they are more vulnerable to poaching.