Juvenile Hawksbill Dead at Hilton Lagoon

 5/11/2022

A call came in from the Hilton Beach concession group that a guest had reported a dead turtle in the lagoon area of the Hilton Waikoloa Hotel.  Chad, working at the Beach Hut, was able to retrieve the turtle and Marc Rice drove down to pick it up.  The turtle turned out to be a juvenile hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) measuring 34 cm curved carapace length.  It had severe wounds in the throat area but we don't know if this occurred pre or post mortem.  

My suspicion is that this is the work of a monk seal (once again) and that the injuries caused the death of this hawksbill.

Below are pictures of the little turtle.  It is very sad to lose a critically endangered hawksbill turtle like this.

Pictures of the turtle and the wound are shown below;

HPA STRP Participates in Earth Day

 Saturday, April 23, 2022

HPA Marine Studeis Program Participates in Earth Day

Laura Jim, Marc Rice and two HPA students volunteered to participate in the Earth Day clean up and educational activity at the Puako launch ramp on Saturday morning. Students were up early for a 0730 departure to Puako. They helped set up the booth with our informational materials where we focused on our HPA Sea Turtle Research Program, HPA's sea turtle rescue response program and information on fishing interactions with Hawaiian honu. The morning also involved collecting debris and cataloging it. There were 30 or 40 participants there and they collected a lot of trash!  

Ms. Jim, Luke and Alden helped with the cleanup and the trash weigh-in for record keeping purposes.  

The activities lasted from 0800 until 1200 hours.

Cynthia Ho Briefs the volunteers and does a round-robin introduction with all of the groups represented.

The HPA team from left to right:  Alden, Luke and Ms. Jim.

The HPA Team

Some of the HPA STRP program handouts and displays.

The Mumau family (HPA faculty) joined in the Cleanup.

Ms Jim sorting, weighing and recording all the trash that was collected.

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.

Stranded Kiholo Turtle- High and Dry!

 Saturday, 1/22/2022

Turtle stranding 25 meters from the water up on the Pahoehoe lava... how it got there, we don't know.  

This turtle is of  particular interest because it has a fairly long tagging history at Kiholo.

Tagging History

Pictures of the Turtle

This image shows how far our turtle was from the water... it was approximately 20 meters from the waters edge.  It is highly unlikely that it voluntarily crawled that far away from the water.

The turtle was sitting on top of a mound of pahoehoe lava and was kind of "high centered" and didn't seem able to get off the mound.  

The front flippers were a bit bloody from trying to work itself off of the rock.  Otherwise, there didn't seem to be any other physical injuries.  Because we don't know how long the turtle was out of the water, we don't know how dehydrated it was.  When we put it back in the water, it swam away normally and appeared to be ok.

Stranding Report Submitted:

Date:  1/22/2022

Time: 1300 h

A park Ranger for Hui Aloha Kiholo called the HPA rescue hotline saying that there was a "large turtle" stranded some 20-30 meters from the water on the northern side of Wainanalii pond, Kiholo. Laura Jim and Marc Rice immediately got equipment together and drove down to Kiholo. The ranger met us at the gate and we drove to the TNC property .. north end of Kiholo Bay. We hiked out to the turtle and found that it was indeed about 20 meters from the water, stranded on the Pahoehoe lava.. it was "high-centered" on a dome shaped chunk of Pahoehoe lava. Some good tourists had been keeping an eye on the turtle and pouring some water on its back to keep it cool. We measured the turtle, recorded the tags and raised it up so we could get a look at the ventral surface. The only injuries that we could see were to the two front flippers where there was some minor abrasion from rubbing on the rock while trying to get off the dome rock. We then put the animal in a carrier box (at least most of it as it was bigger than the box) and , with the help of the ranger we were able to carry the turtle down to the water's edge and release it. On submersion, the turtle immediately swam away and didn't seem any the worse for its experience.  Relesserd at approximately 1400 h 

We felt that we shouldn't give this turtle a oxytet injection because we weren't sure if it had one or not.  I am thinking that a second dose would not cause any problems but ????

Why it was up on the rocks is not clear.. one week ago there was the Tonga  tsunami which did cause some inundation but I don't feel the turtle could have survived for a week out on the hot lava. High surf and high tide are possibilities but that seems unlikely. This is a mystery at this point.

Species: Chelonia mydas 

CCL = 85.0 cm

CCW = 83.5

 LH PIT = 4349634767 RH PIT =1154193d1d LH Metal = H21

Tagging History- First captured at Kiholo in 1992, and again in 2003 and 2004 .. all at Kiholo.

Travel Statistic and Time Allotted to rescue/recoveryTravel distance = 45 milesTotal Time = 2.5 h

Barnacle Betty Stranding

 1/11/22

The HPA Stranding hotline received a call from a concerned resident that there was a large turtle stranded 50-75 meters from the ocean laying out in the hot sun.  

The HPA team of Laura Jim and Marc Rice responded and drove to Kohanaiki to assess the situation.  We found that the turtle was indeed a long ways from the water's edge (probably washed there by high surf during a high tide event) and was breathing but not able to move well.  After closer inspection, we noted that there was a 3/8" diameter puncture wound in the cranium just to the right of the centerline.  To this writer, it is very likely that the puncture wound was caused by a spear shaft.  What a shame...

Because the turtle weighed somewhere around 180-200 lbs we waited for assistance from the security team at the park.  They helped us to move the turtle from the rock up to an ATV.  It was subsequently decided that we would put the honu in the water and see what it would do.  Unfortunately, it was unable to swim and had to be retrieved.  

After contacting NOAA'S MTABP we decided to keep the turtle overnight and air freight it to Oahu for veterinary evaluation.  The honu, which we found had been named "barnacle betty"(BB) by Kaloko-Honokohau Park service personnel, was shipped to Oahu and evaluated.  Unfortunately, there appeared to be significant neurological damage and it was very unlikely that BB would survive.  She was humanely euthanized to prevent further suffering.  

BB was a particularly interesting turtle because it was hatched at Sea Life Park on Oahu, raised at Mauna Lani Auberge Resort and released on 7/4/92 during the resort's Turtle Independence Day Celebration.  It was captured 12 different times between then and its recovery and it grew from 35 cm straight carapace length in 1992 to 87 cm in length in 2017 (average rate of growth ~2 cm/yr).  

Below is the stranding report and some images of BB.

STRANDING REPORT:

Date:  1/11/2022

Location: Kohanaiki State Park

Lat:   19.692569°

Long:  -156.043167°

Call received from Sharon that they were watching a large turtle stranded 50-100 yards from the ocean.  Pictures were provided and we determined that it was in need of help.  We (Marc Rice and Laura jim) drove from Waimea down to Kohanaiki State Park and made our way to the far southern end of the park. We were met by Sharon and her husband and they showed us the turtle.  The turtle was dry, hot and lethargic but moving.  We observed that there was a 3/8 " hole in the cranium to the right of the mid-line on the dorsal surface of the head.  The wound looked very much like a shaft spear hole.  With the help of park security personnel, we moved the turtle to an ATV and determined that we should give it a chance in the water... When the turtle was placed in the water it did not swim away ... it layed there and let the water wash it about and even seemed. to want to move back out of the water.  

As a result of these observations, we decided that it would not survive on its own if released and we put the turtle into our vehicle to keep overnight and ship to Oahu the next day. 

Species:  Cm

CCL = 86 cm

tagging history is attached

EM = 0 (turtle apparently lives in/around Honokohau harbor and is very robust with rolls of fat)

Injuries:  3/8" hole penetrating dorsal cranium to right of midline.

1/11/22

Distance traveled = 80 miles

Time from start to finish:  4 hours

Turtle kept at Marc Rice's house for the night.

1/12/22

Turtle is alive as of 1400 hours and we have gathered and assembled an appropriate carrier.  HPA students will help load the turtle in the carrier

at 1500 hours and Laura Jim and Marc Rice will deliver it  to the Aloha Air Cargo Office at the E.O.Kona International Airport at ~1630 h

Distance traveled = 55 miles

Time devoted to logistics and travel= 3 hours

Turtle was delivered to Oahu.

Tagging History for BB:

Sea Life Park Hatched

7/4/91 CCL 29.2 @ Mauna Lani

7/4/92 CCL 37.3 @ Mauna Lani (release likely)

1/8/95 CCL 43.0 @ Puako

10/5/99 CCL 53.5 @ Kaloko-Honokohau

10/30/2000 CCL 55.0 @ Kaloko-Honokohau-Honokohau

5/7/01 CCL 55.5 @ Kaloko-Honokohau-Honokohau

6/6/02 CCL 57.5 @ Kaloko-Honokohau-Honokohau

10/4/02 CCL 58.0 @ Kaloko-Honokohau-Honokohau

6/16/03 CCL 58.5 @ Kaloko-Honokohau-Honokohau

8/13/03 CCL 59.0 @ Kaloko-Honokohau-Honokohau

9/10/03 CCL 59.0 @ Kaloko-Honokohau-Honokohau

4/13/04 CCL 59.0 @ Kaloko-Honokohau-Honokohau

9/9/05 CCL 61.0 @ Kaloko-Honokohau-Honokohau

11/3/17 CCL 87.0 @ Kaloko-Honokohau-Honokohau

1/11/22 CCL 86.5 @ Kohanaiki

Laura Jim stands next to BB as we found her on the rocks.

BB laying on the rocks, barely able to move.

The 3/8" puncture wound is clearly visible in this shot.

The ATV provided by the Kohanaiki security people.  They were very helpful in moving this heavy girl off the rocks and into the ATV.

BB in the back of the ATV.

One of the metal tags put on BB in the past- B-135.