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Green Sea Turtle Program
The Hawaiian green sea turtle is one of the precious native Hawaiian species on display at Sea Life Park. The Hawaiian name for this type of turtle is honu. The honu at Sea Life Park are unique in that they are the only reproducing colony of green sea turtles in the United States under human care. Most of the adult turtles you will see are over 65 years old and still producing offspring.
Sea Life Park’s green sea turtle breeding program spans over 40 years and has contributed to the resurgence of the honu in Hawaiian waters. Over 16,000 green sea turtle hatchlings have been released from the Park’s adult population, and the breeding program has further impact through education programs with the help of these amazing little “honu ambassadors.”
Each year we release from 200 to 800 baby turtles during the hatching season of May to September. Since 1989, Sea Life Park has also been providing the Mauna Lani Bay Resort with young honu, and each year the Park’s partner raises the turtles in their saltwater ponds until they are ready for release. A similar program exists at the Maui Ocean Center.
The Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle is one of the few species of sea turtles in the world to have seen numbers rise in recent decades, in large part due to awareness and ongoing conservation efforts. As a result, the distinct population of Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles was changed from “Endangered” to a lower status of “Threatened.”
