Internship Reports

Cheryl King

Report # 1

The fate of the critically endangered Hawaiian hawksbill turtle, honu'ea, hangs precariously on the successful reproduction cycles of ~35 known nesting females. This nesting activity is known to occur sporadically and only at select sites among the major Hawaiian Islands. The future of most of these sites is in danger because of overdevelopment and the increasing pressures of human presence. In contrast, the threatened Hawaiian green sea turtle, honu, utilizes the practically uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands for nesting. The isolation and governmental protection of this area has given the population a chance to recover, and it appears to be making solid progress.

Past research, however limited, has found that honu and honu'ea stay within the Hawaiian archipelago throughout their lifetimes. So, protecting their habitat, especially nesting beaches, is relatively within our control (compared to most species of sea turtle that migrate across international boundaries of countries with different conservation priorities). Hawai'i Wildlife Fund (HWF) has been working to achieve this protection since this non-profit was founded in 1996. Unfortunately, there was very minimal effort put forth for this species before HWF got involved. The majority of HWF's honu'ea research has been based on the Big Island of Hawai'i and on Maui, the two islands with the majority of the nesting activity.

The focus of the 2002 off-season's restoration work is going to be on the Kealia and Kawilipoa beaches, two of the three documented nesting beaches on Maui. In the past five years, only five different turtles (total!) have nested on these two beaches (and one has nested on the other beach, Oneloa, during two different seasons). The danger of these extremely low numbers is compounded by low hatchling success rate (developmental problems?), erosion, and the close proximity of a major road to Kealia Beach. Kawilipoa's invasive plant species and excessive lighting by nearby houses and a hotel have contributed to the cause of death for too many hatchlings. Although the number of nesting honu'ea on Maui appears to be low, it represents an integral percentage of the remaining population. With the help of a small grant from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, HWF is hoping to solve these problems, providing more conducive nesting habitat for the future of honu'ea.

I'm providing this background information so that the scope of this project can be put into perspective. During these last two weeks I have searched for information on how to go about addressing beach lighting issues. The best source so far is a Florida Marine Research Institute Technical Report, "Understanding, Assessing, and Resolving Light-Pollution Problems on Sea Turtle Nesting Beaches". This report is seventy-three pages in length and is quite descriptive. This is going to be a huge help!