Turtle Complaint? Turtle Concern? U choose!

By: Willie K. Herron Sr.

Date: June 30 – July 30, 2009

Problem: My concern is to make known the quantity of turtles in the Ocean on the North Shore of Oahu and to find a way to limit their eating activity. They have eaten most if not all of the Limu which has effectively chased away the reef fish and is creating future problems with the growth of fresh Limu. There are a number of Limu eating fish. Some of them are the Kala, manini, Nenui, Uhu, Wana and many more that depend on the sea weed for its nourishment, laying eggs in the Limu and hiding their young for their protection. Limu is not just a source of food for the turtles, it is a protection and means of survival for many other salt-water ocean species. The laws as they are currently written are protecting the turtles not knowing the damage that they are doing to the reefs. We need the Limu. We need the Fish. We need the Turtles. But there has to be a way that they can co-exist without one eliminating the other. As of now, the problem is is that the Turtles have eliminated the Limu and subsequently, they are also in the process of eliminating the fish. As a result, the cycle will cease.

In an attempt to get a hearing and to start an investigation, I called the various state agencies in this order in order to inform them of the issues.

1. May 2009, DLNR Att: Dave Gulke – Comments: I explained the turtle problems as I see it. His response was that the storm in December 2008 was what probably killed the Limu. I disagreed and asked him to do something about it. He said he would send a crew out to my house and I would show them what problems I was experiencing. Nobody ever came out.
2. May 19, 2009, I went to the Neighborhood Board meeting. Comments: They said and agreed that nobody knew that there was a Turtle problem and agreed to discuss it at a future date. Board member Jake Ng seemed like he would take the lead in following up with the turtle problem. But nothing happened and nobody called me after that.
3. June 23, 2009, I went to the Neighborhood Board meeting. Comments: I again raised my concerns, but after the 3 minutes I was given to explain my issues, they thanked me and went on to the next speaker.
4. June 30, 2009, DLNR Att: Glenn Higashi – Comments: He only works with fresh water issues. No further discussion was with him.
5. June 30, 2009, DLNR Att: Dave Smith – Comments: He only works with land animals. No further discussions with him.
6. June 30, 2009, DLNR Att: Laura Thielan – Comments: She wasn’t in so I talked to her aide Claira phone number 587-0400 at 10:35a on Tuesday June 30. She called Dave Gulke who said I had to write a letter to DLNR. I wrote a letter, see Attached exhibit 1. She received the letter July 2, but I did not get a response nor did she return my pictures.
7. June 30, 2009, I called University of Hawaii 923-9741 which was an answering machine. I left my name and phone number but got no response.
8. July 6, 2009, I called Endangered Species Dept. on 10:40a, the lady I talked to said she would talk to the proper people and get back to me. I left my name and phone number but no further response.
9. July 18, 2009, At the Haleiwa Arts Festival, I talked to Joanne Pettigrew from Malama Honu in person – Comments: She said she did not know what to do about the problem. But said to call DLNR Earl Miyamoto. But after I left, I forgot to get his phone number, but by this time I was too frustrated with DLNR to think I’d get a response anyways, and apparently Joanne did not forward my concerns to anyone.
10. July 28, 2009, I went to the Neighborhood Board Meeting. Comments: I talked with a few people before the meeting to see if anybody else was aware of the problems I knew about. I talked with Todd and Marsha White at this meeting. I knew Todd was very familiar with the ocean so I asked him his opinion. Todd said he knew nothing of it. In fact he said that he had a web site discussing the Turtles, their habitat and pictures of several citings etc., at http://northshoreturtles.blogspot.com I explained my observations to him and his wife. They encouraged me to bring it up and the board meeting which I did. Again, I got no response and after my 3 minutes or so, they thanked me for my concerns and went on to the next speaker.
11. Todd White agreed to take on my cause and said he knew who to contact at the DLNR office.
12. July 29, 2009, Todd called his contact at DLNR who said he was not aware of the problem either but gave a name to contact. Her name was Irene Kelly. I decided to correlate my notes before I contacted her.
13. July 30, 2009, I went to Todd White’s house to create this written record of my attempts to get a hearing.

Discussion: If something doesn’t happen soon, there will be no more Limu, reef fish or turtles. They will have eaten themselves out of house and home. In support of this, every evening, the Turtles are currently going up Anahulu stream in search of food. In talking with Mike Lyons at 722-8320 who said that a group of people took a head count and found that hundreds of Turtles go up stream every night. At first it was thought that they were going up stream for their sleeping protection or for laying eggs. It was later discovered by those that have monitored their habits that they were going up the stream in order to get food and eating the grass on the embankments.

Recommendation: The Turtles need to be allowed to be hunted in seasons just like the Mullet, Lobster, Crabs, Moi, Oama, mountain Pigs, Pheasant and many other animals that are allowed to exist within their limits.

Todd White can be reached at 808-479-5287.

Mahalo


Willie K. Herron
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Home phone: 808-636-2321 * Haleiwa, Hawaii 96712