Thursday, May 24, 2007
By Bill Wagner, Scripps Howard News Service

While Hawaiian green sea turtles (honu) are still a threatened species, they are not that hard to find in Kahalu'u Bay.

Turtles swim and feed in the waters off Kahalu'u Beach and plod along the bottom of the tidal pool of the adjacent Keauhou Beach Resort in Kona on the west side of Hawaii, the Big Island.

The placid reptiles are vegetarians, content to munch on algae all day. The algae colors their body fat, giving them their name. Despite the diet, adults can weigh as much as 500 pounds.

While they graze, slowly breaking the surface to breathe, they are capable of reaching speeds up to 35 mph in open water.

They also can stay submerged for two hours or more when resting.

The turtles are unusual in that they are the only marine turtles to crawl ashore and bask in the sunlight, which obviously makes them easy mark for poachers.

Once an endangered species, the large turtles were hunted almost to extinction for their meat, skins (to make leather goods) and shells (to make jewelry).

Even though they have been protected for several decades, their high value on the commercial market means poachers continue to take hundreds each year even in the face of stiff fines and possible jail time.

Once there were tens of millions of turtles worldwide; now fewer than 200,000 mature females are known to exist.

"These ancient mariners cruised the seas before Hawaii's islands even existed. How sad that they could vanish forever in coming decades due to human impact," said Don White, president, EarthTrust.org.

Male and female green turtles look alike until they are mature. Then, the male develops a long tail extending beyond the hind flippers. A female's tail extends only a short distance beyond the end of her shell.

There are other estimates that indicate that only 100 to 350 females nest each year in Hawaii. Those females can produce up to 100 eggs or so, but only a few hatchlings survive from each nest to even make it back to the ocean, falling prey to crabs and often dying from the sun's heat before making it to the ocean.

Once in the ocean, hatchlings remain at greater risk until they grow.

Thanks to their size and speed in the water, adult green sea turtles have only two predators: sharks and people. Tiger sharks regularly feed on all sizes of green turtles.

While the life span of these turtles -- the largest of the hard-shelled marine turtles -- is unknown, it is believed that it takes an average of 25 years for them to reach sexual maturity.

Despite the fact the turtles are a threatened species, some see silver linings among the clouds.

"The Hawaiian green turtle is, right now, the luckiest marine turtle population in the world," said Peter Bennett. He and his wife, Ursula, created a Web site dedicated to sea turtles -- www.turtles.org. "It is protected, but, more importantly, the people of Hawaii respect and obey the laws of protection. This is not true for most marine turtle populations."

Also, the nesting grounds of the honu are remote, uninhabited and protected.

"Virtually all other marine turtles are heavily exploited on their nesting beaches, usually by the removal of their eggs, and often by the slaughter of nesting females," Bennett said.

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