Satellite tracking of Hawksbill turtles nesting in the Hawaiian Islands
Balazs GH, Katahira LK, Ellis DM. 2000. Satellite tracking of Hawksbill turtles nesting in the Hawaiian Islands. Pages 1-3. In Abreu-Grobois FA, Briseno-Duenas R, Marquez-Millan R, Sarti-Martinez L: Addendum to the Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual Symposium on sea turtle biology and conservation February 1996, Hilton Head, South Carolina. Mazatlan, Mexico. March 1998. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Miami, FL. Proceedings of the Eighteenth International Sea Turtle Symposium
Authors equipped two Hawksbill turtles with transmitters. Transmission data indicated that the turtles traveled to the Hamakua Coast of the Island of Hawaii. Few studies have been undertaken using satellite telemetry to determine post-nesting migrations of hawksbill turtles, Eretmochelys imbricata. Additionally, none of the work reported to date has taken place in the Pacific region (Byles and Swimmer, 1994, Groshens and Vaughn, 1994). In the Hawaiian Islands the hawksbill, known as honu'ea, is a rare and endangered species (Balazs, 1978; Balazs et al. 1992; 1994). An estimated total of not more than 30 females nest in the best of years at 10 beach sites found exclusively on the islands of Hawaii, Maui, Molokai and Oahu. Hawksbills are not known to reside or nest in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, where green turtles, Chelonia mydas (honu), seasonally migrate to breed from throughout the archipelago (Balazs, 1976). Kamehame, a small remote beach at 19° 8.8'N, 155° 28.2'W on the southeastern coast of the island of Hawaii, hosts a major portion of all hawksbill nesting in the Hawaiian Islands. Since 1989, females arriving here have been monitored, tagged, and protected by biologists from the nearby Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (Katahira et al., 1994). However, no tagged turtles have been recorded away from the nesting beach. In addition, there are almost no reports of adult hawksbills being sighted by divers anywhere in coastal waters. Knowledge of the whereabouts of marine foraging habitats occupied by Hawaiian hawksbills is essential to adequately understand, protect, and manage this local population. The principal objective of the ongoing study reported here is to locate the resident feeding areasof hawksbills. Satellite telemetry using the Argos system was initiated at Kamehame in 1995 to accomplish this goal.
- Type
- Conference Proceeding Paper
- Authors
- Balazs, George; Katahira, Larry; Ellis, Denise
- Units
- ALKA , HAVO
- Keywords
- Animal Studies, Hawaii, Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), Monitoring, Satellite Telemetry