Hawksbill can be found in tropical and sub-tropical waters throughout the world's oceans.  Post-hatching hawksbills are thought to undertake 'swim frenzy' until reaching oceanic waters where they spend their first years developing.  After several years in the open ocean they recruit to neritic zones, where they spend the majority of their juvenile and adult lives.  Juvenile hawksbills are typically more sedentary than adults of the species and while adults can undertake migrations of thousand of kilometers, the species is typically considered less migratory than other sea turtles.

As is the case with all sea turtles, hawksbills are threatened with the collection of their eggs and meat for consumption and sale.  This threat is heightened in regions of extreme poverty, where they serve as an important source of protein and income.  Incidental by-catch in near-shore artesanal and industrial fisheries is also a huge problem, one for which there is no easy solution as hundreds of thousands of individuals depend on fishing for their livelihoods.  With an ever increasing human population and unsustainable coastal development running rampant, the destruction of key hawksbill nesting and foraging habitats is also a huge problem.  Additional threats include: contamination, large-scale oceanic nutrient shifts and global warming.

However, exclusive to hawksbill turtles and one of the principal reasons for their decline is the collection of their shells (i.e. tortoise shell or 'bekko') for use in the creation of artesanal crafts such as combs, pennants, sunglasses and other trinkets. Entire individuals are also stuffed and sold for hanging on the walls of markets and homes.  The result of this extra 'value' of the shell being that if a hawksbill is encountered it is usually killed instead of being returned to the sea.  While the collection of hawksbills and their shells has been outlawed in most regions of the world, a strong black market continues to exist.