Sadly, today turtles are facing unprecedented threats throughout the world. In the seven years since the Action Plan was published, trade in Asian turtles has increased so dramatically that no Asian species of turtle can now be considered secure. At issue is the harvest of wild turtle populations as a sustainable resource.
Turtles are very slow to mature and very long lived.
Depending on species, the age at first reproduction ranges from six to over 20 years of age. Turtles produce a relatively small number of eggs annually and not all females will produce eggs every year. A similar mortality rate occurs in turtle's first year. In the final analysis, in a stable population only two of any given females offspring will survive to reproduce and it will take that females' entire reproductive life, 20-50 years, to insure that that happens. The harvest of adult turtles is a loss that most turtle populations cannot survive for long.