Tracking turtles

LIHUE — The honu are migrating back to the main Hawaiian Islands after their annual trip northwest for breeding and nesting, and scientists are asking for help in keeping track of them.

It’s the annual “Honu Count,” when residents and visitors call in sightings of the endangered green sea turtles and contribute to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration record of the animals.

“Since April, NOAA biologists have been stationed at field camps in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, carefully marking endangered green sea turtles with numbers,” said Amanda Dillon, spokeswoman for NOAA. “Tracking these numbers helps us understand green sea turtle foraging habitats, migration and distribution.”

NOAA biologists number turtle shells with nontoxic paint to trace help with tracking, starting in the French Frigate Shoals, Laysan Island, Lisianski Island, Pearl and Hermes Reef, Midway Atoll, and Kure Atoll.

The team will be stationed in the French Frigate Shoals counting honu until October. The honu start their migration back from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in late April and May.

Field biologists got a jump on the 2018 season by starting in April, a month earlier than they started in the 2017 season. As of Friday, the team numbered 125 males and 131 females. They also recorded 132 nests, with the largest nest home to 129 eggs.

The team also encountered a female turtle that was first tagged as an adult in 1977 at Midway Atoll, according to NOAA. The program started in 1973.

Field researchers rotate between East Island and Tern Island, working day and night, counting and marking every nesting and basking turtle they encounter.

Then, they wait for the Honu Count to begin.

“The number can last up to a year and makes it easy to identify each individual turtle,” Dillon said.

Anybody can be involved in the search for honu. It just takes photographing the number on the turtle’s back, recording the location and then sending that information into NOAA.

It’s important to remember to keep a distance of 10 feet or more from the animal, NOAA said.

Citizen scientists provided 70 reports of 23 numbered females and nine males sighted around the main Hawaiian Islands during last year’s Honu Count. Dillon said scientists don’t know exactly how many honu hang around Kauai, and finding that number is one of the goals of the project.

There’s a twist on the 2018 event. When citizens report a numbered turtle, NOAA will email them everything scientists know about the turtle: where it was when they numbered it, how many times it has been seen, and where it was seen.

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Jessica Else, environment writer, can be reached at 245-0452 or at jelse@thegardenisland.com.