Hualalai Tagging Trip

The HPA-STRP Directors Laura Jim and Marc Rice traveled to Hualalai (Four Seasons Resort) with 8 HPA students where we were hosted by David Chai (Director of Natural Resources) and his team (Lauren, Madison and Nikki). 

The purpose of the trip was to capture, tag, record body measurements, and conduct health assessments of honu (green turtles, Chelonia mydas) that live in the waters fronting the Hualalai and Kukio properties.

The 8 students that participated in the day’s activities are all certified members of the STRP team and had undergone 4 classes on the biology and ecology of sea turtles and how to work safely with honu in the field.  Two of the students were veterans of many tagging trips and took the lead in the work.

We were able to capture and process 9 honu during the day.  Two  of the honu were recaptures from a previous tagging trip (2019) and 7 were new captures.   They ranged in size from 40 cm (7.6 kg) straight carapace length (SCL) to  52 cm SCL  (17 kg).  All 9honu were safely released back into the water approximately 30 minutes after they were captured.