TURTLE ISLAND RESTORATION NETWORK (TIRN)
Fighting for a blue-green planet!
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
The well being of marine species, including sea turtles and salmon, is linked to the well-being and future of all life on earth. Our team works tirelessly to protect and restore marine biodiversity worldwide through hands-on conservation, grassroots advocacy, science, policy and strategic legal action.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Sea Turtle Restoration Project
Sea Turtle Restoration Project: Through our Sustainable Fisheries Solutions Program, we are working to save the critically endangered Pacific leatherback sea turtle, which is facing imminent extinction from industrial longline hooks and gillnet fishing fleets. These unsustainable fishing techniques also threaten a host of additional marine species, including Hawaiian monk seals, false killer whales, black-footed albatross, white marlin, and sharks. In Costa Rica and Nicaragua, we are training local community members to protect nesting beaches and eggs, and we are working for enforcement of existing legal protections internationally through grassroots activism and strategic litigation. In Texas, we are educating teachers, students, and the general public about the need to protect sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico, and we are advocating for a permanent Marine Reserve to protect the endangered, but recovering, Kemp's ridley sea turtle. GotMercury.Org: Through our public health campaign, we are working to alert consumers about the threats from toxic mercury contamination in swordfish, tuna, shark, and other seafood. Through strategic litigation, we have required supermarkets in California to post warning signs at points of purchase, and we have convinced major supermarket chains to post advisories nationally. We are pressuring the federal government to take stronger measures to protect the public from mercury-contaminated seafood. Our online mercury-in-seafood calculator, www.GotMercury.org, allows individuals to assess their risk, based on their own personal habitats of seafood consumption. Salmon Protection and Watershed Network: In California, we are working to protect and restore endangered coho salmon and the critical creekside habitats on which we all depend. We are rescuing baby salmon that become stranded in drying pools, while at the same time, we are building rain gardens to replenish the water table. We are restoring native, riparian vegetation to decrease runoff, sedimentation, and pollution, and we are training volunteers to assist in scientific research needed to plan recovery efforts. Our citizen-based monitoring teams are also conducting water quality tests, spawning surveys, and habitat assessments. This campaign insures a local commitment to the future health of local watersheds, through the direct involvement of community volunteers.
Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN)
SPAWN, the Salmon Protection And Watershed Network, works to protect
endangered salmon in the Lagunitas Watershed in West Marin County, and the
environment on which we all depend. SPAWN uses a multi-faceted approach to
accomplish our mission including grassroots action, habitat restoration, policy
development, research and monitoring, citizen training, environmental
education, strategic litigation, and collaboration with other organizations and
agencies.
Hawai’i Sea Turtle Recovery Campaign
Turtle Island Restoration Network protects and restores sea turtle populations in Hawaii through hands-on conservation, climate change habitat adaptation, education and rescue of sea turtles injured in recreational fishing.
Eastern Tropical Pacific Swimway Research and Campaign
Turtle Island leads primary research with volunteer dive research assistants at Cocos Island National Park, Costa Rica, an oasis of ocean life. Hundreds of sharks and rays, schools of fish numbering in the tens of thousands and endangered sea turtles surround the island. Our research is setting the basis for better protections at Cocos Island and for a “Protected Swimway” to save sharks, sea turtles and other migratory animals as they swim throughout the region.
Learn how to join a Cocos Island Research Expedition today to help study, tag and track sharks and sea turtles with leading environmentalists at Cocos Island. Contact [email protected] for more information.
Marine Mammals & Seabirds
Our oceans are home to array of amazing marine wildlife – from sperm whales to spinner dolphins, from black-footed albatross to dugongs. Turtle Island Restoration Network fights to protect marine mammals and sea birds from industrial fishing, habitat loss and other threats. Join us in our campaigns to protect marine wildlife.
Sharks
Globally, shark species are facing steep declines in many populations. Indiscriminate industrial fishing has reduced the biomass of large predators such as tunas and sharks by up to 90 percent since the 1950s. Turtle Island is working to protect shark populations by reducing the capture in industrial fishing operations, challenging the shark fin trade, and conducting research to develop the scientific basis for protected areas and policy change.
Defend America’s Wildlife
In the United States, we are at a crossroads in the fight to defend sea turtles, whales, dolphins, and all the ocean wildlife we love. After nearly a decade of increasing protections from the landmark Paris Climate agreement, to the creation of the largest marine conservation area in the world, we are now facing a political wind that does not prioritize the environment.
Turtle Island is actively fighting to save marine species and the oceans. Cornerstone laws and regulations form the basis for protecting endangered species like sea turtles and preventing their extinction. These tools are effective, compel science to be used in making decisions, and provide opportunities for public involvement.
10,000 Redwoods
HELP US FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE BY PLANTING 10,000 REDWOOD TREES IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA.
Where we work
External reviews

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Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
We aim to raise awareness about the vital balance between life in oceans and on land. This is a critical step toward changing people's understanding, attitudes and behaviors with regard to biodiversity. We work to inspire people will recognize their responsibility to advocate on behalf of sea turtles, salmon and other marine species that are gravely threatened by commercial, cultural and individual human practices around the world.
Ultimately, our goal is to recover populations of endangered marine wildlife including sea turtles, dolphins, whales, sharks and wild salmon, and to protect the habitats that they need to survive.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
We use grassroots action, science, policy and litigation to make this happen. We empower people in communities near and far with the knowledge, capacity and power to protect and preserve marine species through direct participation as active, informed and vocal advocates.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
As a leading force for the protection and recovery of sea turtles and a wide array of marine wildlife since 1989, Turtle Island Restoration Network has demonstrated the effectiveness, persistence and long-term commitment necessary to help endangered marine wildlife species recover. Our executive director is a leader in marine conservation, and each member of our team brings deep skills in conservation, advocacy and education. Our board leadership contributes their experience in law, marine science, community leadership and education, as well as providing financial support and serving as ambassadors. The work to regenerate these vulnerable species must span decades, and Turtle Island has demonstrated our commitment to carry this out. We have diverse funding streams for our programs that help ensure organizational health. We have received the top, 4-Star Rating from Charity Navigator based on financial effectiveness and transparency.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Saving Species
- Shut down a Mexican sea turtle slaughterhouse to save 50,000 sea turtles annually and convinced Mexico to end all legal slaughter of turtles. Convinced Mexico to join the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
- Forced Japan to end its illegal trade in endangered sea turtle parts of luxury items.
- Rescued 15,000 coho and steelhead trout from certain death since 1990.
- Stopped BP from burning endangered Kemp's ridleys, other sea turtles and marine wildlife during oil spill cleanup efforts in the Gulf of Mexico.
- Transformed a salmon-blocking dam into a series of salmon jump-pools with other nonprofits, businesses and individuals.
- Mobilized the public to prevent a proposal to re-open the hunting of Hawaii's iconic green sea turtle.
- Began and supported nesting beach programs in Central America that prevented egg poaching resulting in more than 1 million additional sea turtle hatchlings.
Changing Laws and Policies
- Compelled 20 nations to adopt rules that make shrimp nets safer for sea turtles by requiring Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs).
- Closed down 250,000 square miles of the Pacific Ocean to the Hawaii longline swordfish fishery and the California driftnet fishery to protect sea turtles and marine mammals.
- Closed California longline fishery to prevent leatherback mortality.
- Compelled first federal “hard caps" for incidental turtle capture. As a result, the Hawaii longline fishery must close for season after cap is reached.
- Convinced then-Texas Governor George W. Bush to establish a 100-mile long time-area shrimping closure in South Texas near prime turtle nesting beaches.
Hands-on Conservation
- Restored over 100,000 square feet of crucial creekside habitat for wild coho salmon through native plantings, bank stabilization, and floodplain restoration.
- Tagged 150 sharks with acoustic telemetry and 72 green and two hawksbill turtles to collect data to win an international migratory swimway in the Pacific.
- Grew more than 50,000 native plants in our two community-based nurseries to provide better habitat for endangered coho salmon.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
TURTLE ISLAND RESTORATION NETWORK (TIRN)
Board of directorsas of 10/04/2019
Donna Howe
No Affiliation
Term: 2008 - 2021
Donna Howe
No Affiliation
Deborah Sivas
Stanford Law School Environmental Law Clinic
Todd Steiner
Turtle Island Restoration Network
Barbara Andrews
California Academy of Sciences
Alex Hearn
University of SF, Quito Ecuador
Carole Allen
HEART - Help Endangered Animals - Ridley Turtles