Safeguarding Hawaii's
sea turtles
Join Malama na Honu and become a citizen scientist defending an endangered species BY ANNA STEPHENSON
Malama na Honu volunteers. Photo by Ulziibayar Badamdorj.
A
t a beach in Haleiwa, endangered green sea turtles bask under the watchful eye of volunteers from Malama na Honu, an organization whose name in Hawaiian means, “Protect the Turtles.” Founded in 2007, Malama na Honu is a constant fixture at a Haleiwa beach whenever there are turtles. They also have a
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comprehensive educational outreach program, teaching adults and children alike about the importance of the honu, or green sea turtle, and how to protect them. Why this quiet cove? “This is the education beach,” said Debbie Herrera, the volunteer education coordinator for Malama na Honu from Mililani. “On other beaches, people
who see the honu are on their own. Here, there’s always someone from Malama na Honu to answer questions. … You can imagine the number of volunteers we need.” “Most volunteers never know anything about honu,” Herrera said. “But once they get here, they become obsessed with them. Everyone loves honu.” Herrera requested the beach not be named for the safety of the honu. According to the Malama na Honu website, the organization is currently tracking 20 individual turtles – five males, eight females, five sub-adults and two juveniles. Herrera said each honu has had its identifying characteristics noted and has been given a Hawaiian name. Many of them have English nicknames, like Oliva-Dawn. OliviaDawn’s Hawaiian name is Ipo or sweetheart. She’s a frequent feature on Malama na Honu’s Instagram and Facebook pages, where they post photos of the basking honu. “She is very colorful on the beach,” said Herrera. “She does amazing sand art … because she always moves around. She has that reputation of being the turtle who comes up and definitely dominates. We used to call her the honu with restless leg syndrome because she moved around so much. She’s here all year round.” According to the World Wildlife Fund, honu are threatened by “overharvesting of their eggs, hunting of adults, being caught in fishing gear and loss of nesting beach sites.” The Malama na Honu website says here in
