HA139 IS SAFELY RELEASED

 HA 139 IS RELEASED

A small honu was found being kept in Waikoloa in a bathtub!!!  The honu was well cared for for a period of 9 days in the tub.. it was picked up by DAR folks and brought down to Puako where the HPA stranding team helped by doing the morphometrics and putting tags on the honu.  It was very vigorous and healthy looking so we felt that it would do fine and released it.  Unfortunately, we noticed that once it was in the water it was unable to dive.. it was what we call a floated.  Ms. Jim went out and retrieved the honu and we arranged to send it to the Maui Ocean Center Marine Institute (MOCMI) for rehabilitation.  

After about 4 days of rehab and careful loving care by MOCMI. The honu (now with a carapace number, "HA139". was returned to Kona Airport.  Laura Jim and Marc Rice picked up HA139 at the Kona Airport (Hawaiian Airlines Air Cargo) at 1530 h and drove it to Puako where we released it at ~1630 h.  It swam vigorously away and seemed to have good buoyancy control.  We hope it will do well and would appreciate anyone who sees HA139 can report it to a NOAA site (below)

Honu Count 2021

• Be on the lookout for turtles with a white number on their shell
• Keep a respectful distance of 10 feet if you spot one
• Take a photo of the number, without disturbing the turtle
• Record the date, time, and location—include the name of the beach/body of water, a dropped map pin, or GPS coordinates
• Email RespectWildlife@noaa.gov to report the turtle’s number and sighting details

To report any emergencies (dead or injured animals) call NOAA’s Marine Wildlife Hotline: (808- 987-6903). 

Below is a short video of the release.

35th International Coastal Cleanup

 Ocean Steward's Cleanup and Educational Event

10/21/2022

Laura Jim and HPA student volunteers traveled to Spencer Beach State Park to participate in the 35th international Coastal Cleanup Event.  Below are a few pictures of the early morning portion of the event.

The beautiful beach in the morning at Spencer Beach State Park.

International Ocean Cleanup Group at Spencer Park.

The HPA Sea Turtle Research Program "booth".

Array of informational booths that were available at the 35th International Coastal Cleanup.

HPA student volunteers.

Team Picture - Ms. Jim, Nina, Dorian, Luke, Annika & Lainey

The HPA Team!

David Giff exiting the water at Spencer Park after spending an hour collecting marine debris.

HPA Sea Turtle Research Program students help to sort and record all of the debris that was collected.

Doing all this work wasn't originally in the job description but they stepped right in and worked hard to get everything documented.

A straw hat was a winner.

Volunteer group picture.

 The HPA team.

HPA students working on the fishing line recycling project.

Debris cleanup requires a lot of debris.

Luke and Annika man the HPA sea turtle info booth.

Kaloko-Honokohau Tagging Trip

 Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park (KAHO)

Field Work October 20, 2022

Laura Jim, Marc Rice and 11 HPA students traveled from HPA to KAHO to conduct a one day capture / recapture tagging trip at one of our site where we have been working for many years.  Because of Covid we haven't been there for 3 years.  At the invitation of Kaho's Biologist/Acting Division Lead, Natural and Cultural Resources Jackson Letchworth, we arrived at the park with our equipment at 0835 and were helped with the unloading by a whole bunch of wonderful park personnel.  We got to work as soon as we were set up, done with introductions, and had been given a little background about the park.  

The capture teams went north to Zone C to start with and were soon back at the working area with 3 honu.  We began weighing, measuring and. recording data right away and by 1130 hours we had completely worked up and released 9 honu.

After a nice lunch we got back to work and were able to process 6 more honu before we had to depart for HPA's campus.  It was a very busy, wonderful day and we were very thankful for all of the help and camaraderie that our hosts provided.  

In total we captured 15 honu (8 recaptures and 7 new captures)

The mean average of straight carapace length was 54.0 cm

The Median straight carapace length was 52.8 cm

Below are a gallery of pictures from the days work:

The shoreline of our work area at Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Site.

Our work site.

Our turtle sign to let visitors know what we are doing.

Students and Park personnel out on the reef flat looking for feeding honu.

Bringing a captured honu back to shore.

Laura Jim and student bring a honu up to the workup area after 

Transporting a honu in an animal carrier.

Applying paint to an etched number on the left scute of a honu prior to release.

Students preparing sampling equipment for use.

Making sandwiches for lunch.

The chow line!

Lunch time!

Recording tag numbers from the honu on the table.

The team gathered at the end of the day for a team photo.

Turtle Recovery

 10/13/2022

Wednesday

A turtle was reported to have been taken from the ocean and placed in a bathtub in a residence.  It was recovered by DAR personnel and taken to Puako where we met them.  The turtle was robust and healthy looking so we measured and tagged it before trying to set it free.  When we released it, we noticed immediately that it was floating and unable to get down so we retrieved it.  It will be kept at KKO until we can secure an airline reservation to ship it to Maui Ocean Center Marine Institute for rehabilitation.

The honu was air freighted to Maui (MOCMI) yesterday (10/13/22) afternoon for care and rehabilitation.

Laura (HPA) and Chris (DAR) carry the little honu to the water at Puako for release.

Kiholo Tagging Trip - 10/7/2022

 Friday, 10-7-2022

Ms. Jim and Mr. Rice, along with 10 HPA sea turtle research program volunteers traveled to Kiholo Bay and joined the Nature Conservancy Team that cares for the Kiholo fish ponds.  The last time we conducted a trip to this locations was in 2019 with Sea Turtle Biology and Assessment Program team from Honolulu.

We were very anxious to see how the honu were doing after a three year lapse in observation.  We arrived at 0830 in the morning and, after an opening chant and review of the history of Kiholo, we set up the work site and began our capture work.  

We were able to capture, weigh and measure 8 honu by 1200 h after which we broke for lunch.  After a great lunch with a birthday celebration, we resumed work and were able to work up 5 more turtles before it was time to pack up and call it a day.

It was a very successful day with the capture, weighing and measurement  13 honu.  Everyone was engaged the whole time and the help and assistance of the Hui Aloha Kiholo and the TNC personnel made the trip a total success.

Summary:

13 Honu (Chelonia mydas) captured and worked up. (8 were new captures and 5 were recaptures.

The mean straight carapace length was 47.6 cm (std= 8.0)

The median straight carapace length was 45.4 cm

Below are pictures of the days activities and the work done by the HPA student volunteers.