Puako Line entangled honu

3/7/2022

1331 hours

We received a call from a family that was enjoying the beach at Puako near 92 PBR, Puako.  The caller reported that there was a turtle basking that had fishing line wrapped around its neck and both flippers.   I immediately gathered the necessary equipment and carrier and headed down to the area where the honu was located.  By 1400 hours I was there and met up with the reporting party... they showed me the turtle and, as you can see in the first two photos below, it was very heavily entangled and securing wrapped by the fishing line... along with a lure.

The line was wrapped around the neck at least a dozen times and was beginning to cut into the flesh.  The line on the right front flipper was beginning to cut through the flesh and would have undoubtedly resulted in the honu loosing its front flipper.  It is also likely that it would have been strangled by the ever-tightening line around its neck. 

I was able to remove all of the line and we released the honu into the water near where it was basking.  It swam away vigorously and should be fine.

A special thanks to the family that was responsible and caring enough to give me a call and report this poor honu.  We were able to release it from the fishing line and it should be fine... If we hadn't removed the line it most certainly would have died a long and painful death.

Juvenile honu with fishing line around its neck and front flippers.

Close up of the line around the neck and flippers.

 

Puako area where the turtle was found basking/stranded.

The line and fishing gear that was removed from the honu.  

Kiholo Turtle "has gas"

 2/26/2022

The TNC folks at Kiholo called to let us know that they had a honu in their ponds that was floating and unable to get down (dive).  They said it had been seen outside the ponds for a couple of days before it was seen in the pond.  Laura Jim was able to go down and, with the help of Rebecca and Kaleo was able to capture the turtle and put it into an animal carrier.  It was determined that we needed to ship the honu to Honolulu for further treatment and care.  Unfortunately, there were no flights available for two days so we kept the honu in the carrier in a cool shaded area until we were able to ship it to Oahu. 

After the folks on Oahu got the honu, they decided that they needed to ship it on the the Maui Ocean Center Marine Institute for care.  Once it finally go to MOCMI, the caregivers there gave the honu some IV fluids and antibiotics.  Currently the honu seems to be much better.  It is now able to dive, is feeding and defecating appropriately- all good news.  We are hoping that once they give it the green light for release they will ship it back to us for release back at Kiholo.  

This particular honu has a long history at Kiholo... First captured in 1988 at Kiholo and latest capture 2022.  We know this honu is at least 34 years old and still a subabult.. !!!

Here is a video outlining the rescue and return of HA85!

Pictures of honu in the pond at Kiholo.  It is pretty obvious that it "has gas" and is floating.

Kiholo honu with gas.

It is pretty obvious that this honu is really out of balance.

Kiholo Educational Outreach

 March 13, 2022

Kiholo Bay Educational Outreach    

Laura Jim "talks turtle" with students and faculty from Oregon Episcopal School at Kiholo Bay.

    

On Sunday, March 13 STRP co-directors Laura Jim and Marc Rice traveled to Kiholo Bay to meet with a group of students and faculty on Spring Break trip from the Oregon Epsicopal School to "talk turtle".  Since Kiholo Bay is the site where we first began our cooperative HPA/NOAA Sea Turtle Research Program it is fitting that this site was chosen.  Kiholo remains an important forage and refuge area for juvenile and sub-adult green turtles and is still one of our study areas.

Attached is a short video of beautiful Kiholo Bay and our talk with the students from OES.