Recently, a hawksbill sea turtle I saw and reported to Hawksbill of Hawaii in Kawaihae Harbor was found entangled with fish hooks according to Marc Rice, HPA Director, HPA Sea Turtle Research “…there was a hooked turtle at Kawaihae and I was able to connect with the Ocean Sports boat captain to retrieve it. They had caught the turtle and removed excess fishing line from around the flippers and neck and took a small hook out of the neck. There was still line going down the throat that we thought might be connected to another hook deeper down. The little 42 cm (curved carapace length) honu’ea was vigorous and otherwise unharmed. After consultation with NOAA’s Marine Turtle Biology and Assessment Program personnel, it was determined that the juvenile hawksbill should be shipped to Honolulu where a veterinarian could take X-rays and determine the status of the hook in the throat. The honu’ea was kept in an animal carrier overnight and sent air freight to Oahu the next day. Subsequent examination by the veterinarian found that there was a relatively small hook stuck in the esophagus. After sedation, the vet was able to remove the hook and line and the turtle was placed in a holding tank to recover. After a few days of recovery, the honu’ea was fitted with a satellite tag and released in pearl harbor where other honu’ea are known to live. As of this post, “HI56” is still in Pearl Harbor and seemingly doing ok.”
That turtle is designated HI56 and named Leslie (after a dear departed friend on mine) . It is the fourth entangled turtle of eight hawksbill sea turtles recorded in the harbor since 2017 . That brings us to 50% entanglement ratio.
Five out of eight hawksbills were observed and recorded under Pier one, and the other three were found on the opposite reef side of the harbor. Three entanglements were seen on turtles under the Pier.
Leslie was fortunate to be rescued, but the others fate are unknown. Kawaihae harbor is littered with discarded lures and fishing lines underwater along shores and any other places a person can cast a line from. The litter remains because the harbor often escape the annual clean ups from volunteers, who would dive to collect rubbish and fishing lines. It is reasonable to expect fishermen who simply discarded their entangled or fouled gears will not bother to go to retrieve them even in shallow water. This is just how it is.
The Pier is one area that is possible to eliminate line casting fishing or pole fishing . Hawksbill sea turtle frequent the water under the Pier to feed on sponges. The solution of ban on fishing off of the Pier will reduce the entanglement drastically. This must be done by regulatory agencies like DLNR and DOT. The Pier is a restricted area already and an agreement within the agencies and from the harbor master could happen.
Update: 12.24.2021
This is a satellite tracking dated 12.09.2021 of HI56 in Pearl Harbor, Oahu provided by NOAA courtesy of Marc Rice. “The Argos data points are simply mapped and are not cleaned up and modified for accuracy… hence you will see a lot of points on land… the turtle did not go there!…” Rice said.