Consistent funding for hawksbill nesting beach recovery

Honuʻea Hui: Hawksbill Sea Turtle Recovery Project

Provide consistent funding to protect hawksbill (honuʻea) nesting beaches across Hawaiʻi nei. Hawaiian hawksbills are one of the smallest sea turtle populations on Earth, and research has shown that this population is localized. Proposed green fee funds from visitors should go to existing community nonprofit partners working to recover these critically-endangered turtles on Hawaiʻi Island, Maui, Molokaʻi, Oʻahu and Kauaʻi, coordinated through one statewide data and reporting program (hosted by the DLNR DAR Protected Species Program in partnership with NOAA).

Monitoring averages just 15-20 nesting females and ~ 50 nests a year statewide (!), with less than 200 individual females recorded across all years. Every female hawksbill lost is a measurable setback for the species. Lack of funding and inconsisent efforts across years is putting this species at serious risk of local extinction.

• Hawaiʻi Island: most nesting females statewide use beaches on the southern coastline in the remote district of Kaʻū.

• Molokaʻi: recent surveys show nesting comparable to the top Hawaiʻi beaches.

• Maui: often only 1–2 females nest per year, mainly on the south shore; females have been killed by cars on North Kihei Road.

• Oʻahu and Kauaʻi: occasional nests, hard to find and largely unmonitored.

Threats to honuʻea breeding populations are often visitor-linked: coastal development, lighting, vehicles, beach traffic and erosion. That makes hawksbill recovery a direct fit for a fee paid by visitors. However, funding is also needed to help support ongoing predator removal and monitoring efforts (primarily mongoose and rats) at the most critical nesting beaches. Funding allocation for this proposal may realistically be the difference between having Hawaiian hawksbills in the near future, or not.