A private Pacific atoll once owned by Hollywood actor Marlon Brando has become one of French Polynesia’s most important marine conservation sites, with thousands of sea turtle hatchlings recorded after decades of habitat protection. Biologists monitoring Tetiaroa Atoll recorded more than 15,614 green sea turtle hatchlings emerging from nests during one recent monitoring season, according to figures published by conservation group Tetiaroa Society and research partner Te mana o te moana. The annual survey runs from September to March and recorded 113 nesting females and about 161 nests spread across the atoll’s protected coral islets. The success seen today is the result of a major environmental transformation that began six decades ago in the South Pacific.
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