On January 5, three HPA students, Lili Kosa ’20, Malia McKendry ’21, and Justus Benz ’21, along with HPA faculty members Marc Rice and Laura Jim, embarked upon HPA’s second place-based learning expedition to the Republic of Vanuatu. As part of a three-year study, this trip will help foster a better understanding of hawksbill turtles, including their forage grounds and regional connectivity.
During the trip, our HPA team gained a special partner in their work: a post-nesting hawksbill turtle dubbed Pua Lilia. She was given a satellite tag on Moso Island, and from there, the team continues to follow her movements throughout the region.
Coordinates provided by the tag suggests that she nested again on January 23 and, hopefully, will be departing Vanuatu soon. The previous year’s satellite-tagged turtles migrated from Vanuatu to forage grounds in three different locations, New Caledonia, the Northern Great Barrier Reef, and the Southern Great Barrier Reef.
In addition to identifying the foraging grounds and migratory path of the turtles nesting in Vanuatu, the team helped to foster community awareness of sea turtle conservation and to promote the continued study of sea turtles on Moso Island by Ni-Vanuatu. The group participated in a workshop with the villagers of Tassiriki, sharing their findings from the previous research trip, as well as the general value of conservation.
When not focusing on turtles, the student-faculty team explored reefs off Moso Island, snorkeling amongst giant clams, sea anemones, and other marine organisms present in the Indo-Pacific reef system. They also explored the island with a day hike, SUP sessions, and a boat trip circumnavigating the entire island.
Meanwhile, results from the first year of the project will be presented at the International Sea Turtle Symposium in Charleston, South Carolina in early February by Laura Jim and students Holly Hoffbauer ’19 and Sara Thiel ’20. The symposia’s theme, Navigating the Future, “challenges us to envision future conservation problems before they arise, acquaint ourselves with the emerging frontiers of sea turtle biology, and honor our covenant to the natural world by steering our way toward a bright future for sea turtles and humanity.” Hoffbauer and Thiel will present their findings in Post-nesting Migrations of Hawksbill Turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) Nesting at Moso Island, Republic of Vanuatu as part of the conference poster session. The team looks forward to representing Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy on this global stage.