Existing Guidelines
for Viewing Sea Turtles
NOAA, the DLNR & DAR recommend keeping your distance from turtles. However, viewing guidelines at Laniakea seem to be much more lenient.
Viewing Guidelines in the US
Excerpts from the NOAA Fisheries website
Do not swim with, ride, pet, touch, or attempt to interact with marine mammals or sea turtles in the wild.
For turtles in the water, or nesting on beaches, remain at least 50 yards away—about 1/2 a football field.
Remain at least 50 yards away—about 1/2 a football field—from sea turtles nesting or resting on beaches.
(Note: 50 yards = 150 feet)
“Remain at least 50 yards away from sea turtles resting on beaches”
(NOAA)
How your actions can impact marine wildlife
Excerpts from the NOAA Fisheries website
Assume that your action is a disturbance and cautiously leave the area if you observe any of the following unusual behaviors:
A basking turtle flushed back into the water or unable to access the beach to bask.
Changes in swimming, such as rapid changes in direction or speed.
Inability to feed due to constant disruption by swimmers or snorkelers.
Viewing Guidelines in Hawaiʻi
Excerpts from the NOAA Fisheries website’s Pacific Islands regions page
View from a distance. Use binoculars or your camera’s zoom for a close up.
Do no disturb sea turtles or monk seals sleeping on the beach.
Never touch, chase, or feed. Animals are wild, unpredictable, and protected.
Limit viewing time to a few minutes.
Sea Turtles: View from at least 10 feet (3 meters)—on land and in water.
“View from a distance. Use binoculars or your camera’s zoom for a close up”
(NOAA)
Viewing Guidelines at Laniakea Beach
Excerpts from the list of responsibilities of a Malama na Honu volunteer on its website
Keep beach visitors from surrounding turtles as they haul out of the water.
Place red ropes around turtles at a 6-10 foot distance away from them as they settle in on the beach.
Talk to visitors, explaining facts about the turtles and the reasons why it is important to keep people from direct contact with them.
Advise snorkelers that the same rules regarding giving turtles space and not interfering with their activities applies in the water as well as on land.
150 feet in the US, 6 feet at Laniakea.
Is this the problem?
Laniakea turtle habitat. No place for turtles to rest.
Too many people. Too close to turtles. No enforcement.
Signs at Laniakea beach
How close can I get to sea turtles in Hawaii?
Excerpts from Hawaii’s DAR (Division of Aquatic Resources) FAQ
… getting close to these animals may constitute a federal or state violation if the animal is disturbed or if your action has the potential to disturb its natural behavioral patterns.
NOAA and DLNR recommend, for your safety and the animals’ protection, that everyone stay at least 10 feet (3 meters) from all sea turtles. If maintaining this distance isn’t possible, keep safety in mind and move away from the animal as carefully as possible, avoiding sudden movements and other actions that might disturb the animal.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is responsible for administering the ESA.
”NOAA is responsible for administering the ESA”
(DAR)
DLNR reminds public to respect the law while viewing sea turtles
Excepts from Hawaii’s DLNR (Department of Land and Natural Resources) website
People continue to be reported as getting too close
In particular, locations such as Laniakea and Ali‘i beaches on the North Shore of O‘ahu…
DLNR urges people to give basking honu space to allow them to rest undisturbed, and suggests keeping a 6 to 10 foot buffer as a best practice for sea turtle viewing.
Feeding or touching turtles in any way is considered a disturbance and therefore illegal.