STRP states its mission as being: To protect endangered sea turtles in ways that make cultural and economic sense to the communities that share the beaches and waters with these gentle creatures.
Todd Steiner, a herpetologist and then director of the Save the Dolphin Project, an affiliate organization of the Earth Island Institute, launched STRP to help strengthen sea turtle protection policies at the local and international level.
When he returned to the United States Steiner learned that the sea turtles that were protected in Nicaragua were being killed in Mexico to supply shells for the Japanese luxury apparel market.
[3] Industrialized fishing practices, particularly longlining and drift gillnetting, used to catch swordfish, shark, and tuna, were cited as causing the most adult leatherback mortality.
In 2006 STRP and a coalition of environmental organizations prevented efforts by the Pacific Fisheries Management Council (PFMC) to reopen the seasonal closure to drift gillnet fishing.
STRP is currently working to prevent the development of a pelagic longline fishery within the California Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) where it has been banned for 30 years to protect various marine species.
[5] In August 2002 STRP merged with the Texas-based Help Endangered Animals – Ridley Turtles (HEART) organization and opened its Gulf of Mexico office.
Along with its sister organization PRETOMA, which is based in Costa Rica, STRP is focused on decreasing the threats to sea turtles in Central America that include development of nesting sites, killing of breeding females, illegal poaching of eggs, and the incidental capture of sea turtles by industrial fishing fleets.
STRP partners with coastal communities to protect and restore the declining leatherback turtle population and habitat by helping to establish conservation deeds in important nesting beaches and marine waters.