This year I got the amazing opportunity to attend Hawaii Pacific University’s 3rd Annual Sea Turtle Workshop. The topic of this year’s workshop was Stranding Research and the Conservation Value to Diverse Communities of Oceania. I really enjoyed this year’s conference because I felt that sea turtles strandings is something everyone has the ability to help with.
So what are sea turtle strandings? Strandings happen when a dead or alive sea turtle is found washed ashore or when an injured or dead sea turtle is found floating on the surface. There are many things that can cause sea turtle strandings including red tides (harmful algal bloom), malnutrition, cold-stunning (when sea turtles become weak and/or inactive due to exposure to cold temperatures), and entanglement and other fishing related injuries. Most of the time the cause of the stranding is unknown or is related to entanglement and other fishing related injuries. Throughout the presentations, all species of sea turtles were reported being stranded, however, many reported that a lot of their strandings are juvenile green sea turtles.
There are many efforts being made throughout the world to help stop strandings and
rehabilitate sea turtles that have been stranded. Specifically in the Hawaiian Islands there are stranding response programsthat are working on educating the community about sea turtles and sea turtle strandings in hopes that the community will have quicker and more appropriate responses to strandings. There are also efforts to protect the Hawaiian green sea turtle’s main nesting beach, East Island, located in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. These efforts include cleaning up debris and waste left there from when it was occupied by the U.S. military, repairing the failing sea wall, and potentially building T-groins (a long narrow structure that extends out from the beach into the ocean used to prevent beach erosion). It is the hope that these repairs and additions to the island will reduce entrapment of sea turtles and other marine life and prevent erosion of the island. The Maui Ocean Center has also developed treatment for flipper injuries that have been caused by entanglement with fishing line. In the past, these injuries usually result in the amputation of the limb, but through laser therapy and targeted pulse electromagnetic field therapy the Maui Ocean Center has been able to prevent limb amputation.
So how can you help? One major thing you can do is clean up fishing lines on beaches and docks or if you are a fisherman make sure to clean up your fishing line properly. Many docks and piers in Hawaii have special disposal binds for fishing lines. Another thing you can do is to make sure you have the number of your local marine animal stranding response saved in your phone. This way you can quickly report any stranded sea turtles or other marine life to the proper organization. Here is the number to call for marine animal strandings in Hawaii: (888) 256-9840.