2024-03-01 PL-SMA-2023-000046 Amy Jo Krommes Testimony

Home

To: Windward Planning Commission of the County of Hawaii Subject: Special Management Area permit for Punalu'u Village BLACK SAND BEACH LLC (PL-SMA-2023-000046) Aloha, I am Amy Jo Krommes a volunteer with the Hawaii Island Hawksbill Project. This testimony is on behalf of myself. The Hawaiian Hawksbill Turtle (Honu'ea) is listed as critically endangered species. Since 2016, 1 have been monitoring Punalu'u Beach for Hawksbill (Honu'ea) nesting. I have been blessed to witness adult female Hawksbill turtles creating nests at Punalu'u or find her tracks to discover the nest. Then volunteer responsibility switches over to protection of the nest from invasive predators such as rats, cats, and mongoose. The volunteers often stay overnight during the hatchling period when the turtles emerge from the nest and go to the ocean. In 2018, there were a total of five Hawksbill Turtle nests from two different females. In 2023, there were five nests from one adult Hawksbill Turtle. These nests were in the vicinity of the lifeguard station. Turtles usually return to the beach where they were born and imprinted as hatchlings. At night the nesting mother turtle leaves the ocean and searches the beach along the vegetation edge in search of a non-rocky area to dig her approximately 20-inch-deep nest. These turtles evolved to recognize their ocean home by the light reflecting off the ocean. Both the mother turtles and baby hatchlings are hardwired to go towards the light. After laying her eggs and covering up the nest the mother makes a direct line to the light; similar to a moth being attracted to light. Stranded mothers have been found beneath lit porches and along streets. Baby turtles typically hatch as a team and leave the nest at night; they can sense when the sand is cooler. These hatchlings are also attracted by light and have been found going towards the artificial lights and away from the ocean. I and other volunteers have witnessed hatchling turtles that were within 10 feet of the ocean a-F4 switch direction to walk towards the light, coming from the Punalu'u parking lot (restroom pavilion, cars, street lights and people with flashlights,). The mother turtle is also very sensitive to movement on the beach. They recognize motion and, if she feels vulnerable, she will not come up to lay her eggs. The mother turtle is carrying a heavy load of eggs and may watch for three days assessing the safety of the beach, she may find another beach close by to nest or she may release her eggs in the ocean.