Sea Turtles of Hawaii and Beyond

 June 17, 2022

As part of the Hawaii State Library's summer reading challenge, Marc Rice presented a virtual talk about the sea turtles of Hawaii and beyond.  The idea was to explain the uniqueness of the Hawaiian honu and honu 'ea populations in Hawaii and then show three other turtle populations that are in other parts of the Pacific Ocean.  While honu and honu 'ea are distinctly a Hawaiian population, the northern and southern Pacific loggerhead turtles span the entire north and south Pacific Ocean from east to west and the honu 'ea or hawksbill populations in the south Pacific are critically endangered as are the Hawaiian hawksbill turtles.

The plan is to show that we are in one big ocean and many of the sea turtles utilize nearly all of it in the sub-tropical and tropical areas.  

WHAT WE DO TO THE ENVIRONMENT ANYWHERE AFFECTS US ALL EVERYWHERE!

You can watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_l9M-0zTXo

World Ocean Day

 June 4, 2022

World Ocean Day at Kawaihae Surf Park

Early Saturday morning, Laura Jim Picked up Charlotte and Savanah and headed to Kawaihae Surf Park to take part in the Kawaihae World Ocean and Reef Day clean up and educational activies Day.  As part of the days activities, HPA hosted a "booth" about sea turtle strandings and injuries resulting from fishing line and hood entanglements.

Other groups were at the event to talk to people about their programs and projects.  Ala kahakai trails group, Unexploaded ordinance recovery program, Coral reef recovery program and Keep Puako Beautiful were all there to share their concerns and solutions to environmental problems.

In addition to hosting the "booth" Laura, Savanah and Charlotte spent about 1.5 hours snorkeling in the waters right off of the surf park and they collected approximately 8 pounds of fishing line, lead sinkers, cans, pieces of plastic and other assorted debris.  Their effort were very much appreciated and helped to make the waters off of the park safer for the marine critters that live there.

The booths and demonstrations of the groups presenting at the Kawaihae Surf Park World Ocean Day.

Charlotte and Savanah listening to opening remarks and blessing.

HPA's presentation about sea turtle strandings and the problem with fishing line entanglement.

Savanah and Charlotte exiting the water at the Kawaihae surf park stairs.

Savanah and Charlotte with their marine debris haul.

Laura, Charlotte and Savanah retrieved about 8 lbs of fishing line, cans, plastics, etc.