Malama Na Honu
Who We Are
Currently a team of volunteers routinely watch over the sea turtles as they bask on the beach. They identify and collect data for the Marine Biologist at NOAA. The volunteers educate the public by giving turtle facts and answering questions about the turtles.
We have three scheduled shifts on weekdays and four scheduled shifts on weekends. The shifts last 3 hours. We require that our volunteers commit to a minimum of 2 scheduled shifts a month and be 18 years of age (or accompanied during volunteer shifts by a responsible adult). All new or interested potential volunteers complete an initial training session (about 1 hour at the beach) followed by 2 "shadowing" shifts of other volunteers.
What We Do
To protect the Hawaiian green sea turtles through education, public awareness and conservation, in the Spirit of Aloha. In 1999, the honu began hauling out onto the beach in the sandy cove to bask ashore. Word traveled quickly and soon tour buses, local residents and island visitors were stopping at Laniakea to see the turtles sleeping on the beach and calmly swimming and feeding inches from the shoreline. Unfortunately, some of the beachgoers were not respectful to the honu, choosing instead to sit, ride and even feed the turtles. During the summer of 2005, the increasing interaction between the honu and humans prompted George Balazs, leader of the Marine Turtle Research Program for the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, to create a campaign called Show Turtles Aloha.
