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Oahu’s surge in tourism has generated larger waves of visitors to the North Shore’s Laniakea Beach Park, popularly dubbed Turtle Beach, and people continue to break the law by harassing the endangered green sea turtles there, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and the turtle conservation group Malama na Honu report.
“Before, there would be strings of individuals, but now there are packs of 200 people at a time, throughout the day,” said Debbie Herrera, volunteer and education coordinator for Malama na Honu, in a July 21 video released by the group that shows crowds of people on Laniakea Beach waiting at the water’s edge for a turtle to come ashore.
In response, DLNR’s Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement has been assigning officers to Laniakea to create a more regular presence, which works as a deterrent, because “typically, if there’s a uniformed officer standing on the beach, people are not going to break the law in front of them,” said Jason Redulla, division chief.
“We try to get our officers out (to Laniakea) several times a week,” Redulla said Monday in a phone interview, “but we can’t provide 24-hour coverage on one beach, and my personnel numbers on Oahu are pretty small — about 16 officers available in the field, not all working at the same time, and with such a broad range of responsibility,” he said, noting the division has hundreds of miles of beaches to patrol, in addition to state forests and parks.
Recently, DOCARE officers are once again being called on to protect public safety by enforcing rules barring outdoor gatherings of more than 25 people, due to the current surge in COVID-19 infections.
“This past weekend our officers broke up several large beach parties in East Honolulu, one of which involved underage drinking,” Redulla said, noting such calls pull DOCARE officers away from their natural- resources beat.
Recent, widespread media reports about harassment of honu and endangered Hawaiian monk seals have led Gov. David Ige to declare that violators will be prosecuted, but tourists at Laniakea Beach tell Malama na Honu volunteers they didn’t know touching turtles was illegal, Herrera said.
Although most followed rules when informed, there were a “very few who refuse, despite dozens of cautionary signs or warnings from volunteers, to give green sea turtles on the beach or in the ocean wide berth,” she added.
She called for continual visitor education and encouraging a narrative shift in which people post videos of themselves exhibiting pono, responsible behavior for others to follow.
Redulla asked that in addition to reporting incidents, people take photos that can “help us to substantiate a violation or ‘take’ — of people actually touching, grabbing or feeding the turtle, or changing the turtle’s natural behavior.”
He suggested noting a culprit’s car license plate or name on a backpack to help with identification and enforcement but warned against approaching or addressing potential violators.
Things were looking up for enforcement efforts, he said, now that the Legislature has restored funding, following the state’s COVID-19 hiring freeze, which has allowed him to start recruiting.
Redulla asked that visitors and residents be responsible and respectful in their behavior toward Hawaii’s endangered native wildlife and with one another, “because COVID-19’s still out there.”
In the video a lone honu, paddling offshore, raises its head high and looks toward the beach, where throngs of people await it.
It then continues swimming in the shallows, grazing on algae, and does not come ashore.
HOW TO HELP
To report wildlife harassment:
>> DOCARE: 643-DLNR (3567)
>> National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: 888-256-9840
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