Three Hawaiian Hawksbill Turtles Captured

Hawksbills are Listed as an Endangered Species

Oneuli Black Sand Beach, Maui

On June 16, 2009, record-setting field work involving the ocean capture of sea turtles was conducted by the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center (PIFSC) at a near shore reef area of South Maui. Marc Rice of the Hawaii Preparatory Academy, Cheryl King of the Hawaii Wildlife Fund, and several other invited colleagues participated in the work at this new study location. The objective was to capture three hawksbills regularly seen by the public (and reported to us by Steven Williams) foraging and resting in the area. All three turtles were successfully and safely captured, tagged, and harmlessly sampled for mtDNA and stable isotope analysis. Two of the turtles were sub-adults (70 and 71 cm shell length) and one was a small juvenile 36 cm. Over a 33-year period of ocean-capture research of sea turtles in the Hawaiian Islands, only 12 hawksbills have been encountered and tagged. Since 1982 there have been over 5000 sea turtle stranding cases entered into the PIFSC Marine Turtle Research Program's data base, but only 79 have been hawksbills. A follow-up visit will be made to the South Maui site in a few months in an effort to recapture the turtles to measure rates of growth. Aloha, George Balazs (PIFSC)

Related Article: Short-range movements of hawksbill turtles from nesting to foraging areas within the Hawaiian Islands