Hawaiʻi Community College students are diving into marine science, by helping count and study 80 endangered green sea turtles along Hawaiʻi 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 Punaluʻu. We did turtle tagging, which was very inspiring to me because since I was a child I’ve wanted to do marine science,” said Hawaiʻi 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 Punaluʻu 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 Hawaiʻi Island.
“Even though we’re the youngest program in the entire system, Hawaiʻi 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 Hawaiʻi 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 Hawaiʻi CC, email Sims at jlsims@hawaii.edu or visit the website.
