ROD THOMPSON / RTHOMPSON@STARBULLETIN.COM Concrete barriers protect the Hilo bayfront site where 124 eggs of a rare olive ridley turtle are incubating for the next two months. A female of the endangered species laid the eggs on another part of the beach Monday, and biologists moved them to a safer spot.

Endangered olive
ridley turtle lays
eggs at Hilo Bay

Officials are asking the public
to not disturb the rare nest,
which has 124 eggs

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By Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.com

HILO >> State officials are asking for the public's cooperation in protecting 124 eggs of a rare olive ridley turtle that dug her nest Monday on the sands of Hilo Bay.

Biologists guessed that the turtle was an olive ridley after hearing a description from fishermen, who watched the egg-laying Monday night. They reported it to the state Department of Land & Natural Resources the next morning.

"This would be only the second confirmed nest of an olive ridley in Hawaii," said a statement from the department.

The panda.org Web site of the World Wildlife Federation says olive ridleys are "relatively numerous in tropical waters" around the world, although some populations are depleted or "virtually extinct."

All sea turtles in Hawaii are considered endangered or threatened and are protected by state and federal laws. Violators can be fined $10,000 for "each specimen" of an endangered species killed or removed.

The Land Department attached a sign to a tree on the Hilo beach warning the public that turtles are protected, and the Hawaii County Department of Parks & Recreation provided concrete barriers to protect the nest site.

But first, students from the University of Hawaii-Hilo Marine Options Program, under Land Department guidance, moved the nest. "The nest was very close to the waterline, where winter waves could wash it away," according to the Land Department statement.

The moving process involved digging a new nest hole and lining it with mucus-saturated sand from the first nest.

Then eggs were moved with care to prevent "rotating" them. Embryos attach to their shell within 24 hours and will not survive if rotated, the Land Department said.Finally, the new nest was covered with sand from the old nest.

"The next step is up to the community to leave the turtles alone during their two-month incubation," the Land Department statement said.

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World Wildlife Federation

Department of Land and Natural Resources

UH Marine Option Program

County of Hawaii