Honu Count 2018: Help Find Numbered Sea Turtles in Hawaii
Lindsey Bull and Marylou Staman, JIMAR employees, measure the length of a female green sea turtle basking on Tern Island (NOAA Fisheries).
Citizen scientists of Hawaii, we need your help counting turtles—and here’s why!
The turtles are returning! Since April, an intrepid team of NOAA biologists, including employees from SOEST’s Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research (JIMAR), has been up in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, marking all of the endangered green sea turtles (honu, in Hawaiian) that are nesting or basking. Anytime now, the first of those turtles will return to the main Hawaiian Islands. We need residents and visitors to help let us know where they turn up.
Last year, we asked citizen scientists to report all of their encounters with turtles that had numbers on their shells. Tracking these numbers helps us understand green sea turtle foraging habitats, migration, and distribution—we’re calling it the “Honu Count.” Citizen scientists provided 70 reports of 23 numbered females and 9 males sighted around the main Hawaiian Islands for “Honu Count” last year. Adult turtles were seen in foraging habitats of Maui, Oahu, Kauai, and Hawai‘i Island.
Biologists etch a temporary number on turtles during the summer field survey. The number can last up to a year, and makes it easy to identify each individual turtle. If you see a turtle with a number on its shell:
- Keep a respectful distance of 10 feet (3 meters).
- Take a photo (without disturbing the turtle).
- Record the location (for example name of beach/body of water, dropped pin, or GPS coordinates).
- Email NOAA to report the turtle’s number and location: RespectWildlife@noaa.gov .
Read more on NOAA Fisheries.