Bio

Matthew Godfrey started working on sea turtle conservation and research in 1989. His first field research project on sea turtles took place in Boca Raton Florida. Subsequently, he has worked on sea turtles in various locations such as the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe, Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, and Turkey. He moved to North Carolina in 2002 when he was hired as the sea turtle biologist for the NC Wildlife Resources Commission. Matthew works closely with veterinarians and residents at NC State College of Veterinary Medicine and the NC Aquariums on sick and injured sea turtles that occur in North Carolina, especially in the winter during sea turtle cold stun season.

Area(s) of Expertise

Matthew works on different aspects of sea turtle biology and conservation, including health, growth, behavior, reproduction, and impacts from climate change. He is on the editorial boards several scientific journals, including Endangered Species Research, Biodiversity and Conservation, and the Marine Turtle Newsletter. Matthew is active in regional and international conservation issues, and is a member of the IUCN SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group, the International Sea Turtle Society, and NC Herpetological Society. Matthew is also an adjunct faculty member at the Nicholas School of the Environment – Marine Lab at Duke University.

Publications

• Assessing Loggerhead Turtle Exposure to Fisheries in Northwest Africa: Predicted Risk and Management Gaps , Ecology and Evolution (2026)
• A global assessment of microplastic abundance and characteristics on marine turtle nesting beaches , Marine Pollution Bulletin (2025)
• Navigating danger: Watercraft-related mortality of sea turtles in the United States Atlantic and Gulf coastal waters , Biological Conservation (2025)
• Updated global conservation status and priorities for marine turtles , Endangered Species Research (2025)
• Adaptation of sea turtles to climate warming: Will phenological responses be sufficient to counteract changes in reproductive output? , Global Change Biology (2023)
• Monitoring population-level foraging distribution of a marine migratory species from land: strengths and weaknesses of the isotopic approach on the Northwest Atlantic loggerhead turtle aggregation , Frontiers in Marine Science (2023)
• Network analysis of sea turtle movements and connectivity: A tool for conservation prioritization , Diversity and Distributions (2022)
• New methods to derive sea turtle nester abundance from nest counts: Ground truthing and the bias of current approaches , Biological Conservation (2022)
• Thermal conditions of green turtle (Chelonia mydas) nests in the largest rookery in the eastern Mediterranean , Endangered Species Research (2022)
• Hawksbill sea turtle life-stage durations, somatic growth patterns, and age at maturation , Endangered Species Research (2021)

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