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Posted: Monday, June 28th, 2004 5:49 AM HST

Officials hope for more hawksbill turtle nests

By Associated Press

(Kihei-AP) -- Wildlife experts are hoping that endangered Hawaiian hawksbill turtles will build more nests in Hawaii this year. Federal wildlife officials say last year's hawksbill activity was relatively low, compared to a high of about 60 nests sighted statewide in the late 1990s. The normal June-to-November nesting season has just started but eggs have already been laid in three hawksbill nests on the Big Island's south coast. Lawrence Katahira, a resource management specialist at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, says the number of new female turtles on the Big Island has been increasing by at least one a year since 1999. Last September more than 100 baby turtles hatched from a single female's nest on Punaluu's black sand beach. Katahira says he's not sure why there are more hawksbill turtles on Big Island beaches. But he says the reason officials are seeing more young adult turtles is because hatchlings that were protected about 15 years ago are reaching now maturity. The Hawaiian hawksbill will nest every two to five years, mostly on remote beaches in Ka`u and Puna on the Big Island. A few nest on Maui and Molokai. Hawksbill sea turtles are also found in the Atlantic and Indian oceans and in the Caribbean. They were placed on the federal Endangered Species list in 1970. (Copyright 2004 by the Associated Press. All rights reserved.)