Turtle tagging: Hands-on research for Hawai‘i CC Marine Option Program students

VIDEO NEWS RELEASE

Students safely hand-capture green sea turtles and conduct health evaluations.

No other community college in the state incorporates endangered species research so directly.

MOP offers students early exposure to marine science through internships, personal research projects.

Punalu‘u Black Sand Beach is the largest and longest-running database worldwide on green sea turtles

Students safely hand-capture green sea turtles, conduct health evaluations, measure and weigh them.

MOP strives to offer marine science opportunities to our local communities.

Students from all majors can tailor MOP to their interests.

Link to video and sound (details below):  https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/efzuoBff0P

Hawai‘i Community College students are diving into marine science, by helping count and study 80 endangered green sea turtles along Hawai‘i Island’s coastlines in the first year of the college’s nascent Marine Option Program (MOP).

“I took a zoology class at Hawaiʻi CC and in my lab portion we got to go to Punalu‘u. We did turtle tagging, which was very inspiring to me because since I was a child I’ve wanted to do marine science,” said Hawai‘i CC graduate Eliea Mitchell-Butler. “And to be able to do it and get involved with the local community was very touching because [the 40-year data set at Punalu‘u Black Sand Beach] is the largest and longest-going database worldwide on green sea turtles.”

Students worked hands-on in the Hilo Sea Turtle Health and Population Assessment Program through a special research permit with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Under faculty supervision, they hand-captured turtles, assessed their health, measured and weighed them, and applied tags for tracking. Research was conducted at Punaluʻu Black Sand Beach and Haʻena Beach on Hawai‘i Island.

“Even though we’re the youngest program in the entire system, Hawai‘i CC’s Marine Option Program is one of the most unique in that we offer research in sea turtles,” said MOP program coordinator Jen Sims.

Recent Hawaiʻi CC graduate Christian Reynolds said, “I never thought I would be part of real conservation science this soon in my undergraduate education. I joined MOP at Hawai‘i Community College because it offered me the same opportunities that I would have otherwise had at a four-year university but at a much lower price.”

MOP also offers internships, research projects and cultural fieldwork open to all majors.

For more information about the Marine Option Program at Hawai‘i CC, email Sims at jlsims@hawaii.edu or visit the website.

VIDEO:

BROLL: (1 minute, 30 seconds)

:00-1:30 Shots of Hawaiʻi CC Marine Option Program students tagging green sea turtles

SOUND:

Eliea Mitchell-Butler, Hawaiʻi CC graduate (:26)

“I took a zoology class at HCC and in my lab portion, we got to go to Punalu'u and we did turtle tagging, which was very inspiring for me because since I was a child, I've wanted to do marine science and to be able to do it and get involved with the local community was very, it was very touching in a way because this database at Punalu'u is the largest and longest going database pretty sure worldwide on green sea turtles.”

Jen Sims, Hawaiʻi CC Marine Option Program coordinator (:13)

“So far in our first year we have helped to count 80 green sea turtles on the east side of Hawaii and we have perpetuated the 40 year data set at Punalu'u Black Sand Beach.”

Sims (:23)

“So even though we're the youngest program in the entire system, the Hawaii Community Colleges Marine Option Program is one of the most unique in that we offer research in sea turtles. We also strive to offer marine science opportunities with our local communities in order to make sure that our citizens are stewards in ocean science.”