I became a true believer in conservation when my son told me “Mom, let’s give the turtles some space.”
Back In 1977, when I was fresh out of high school and discovering the world, I realized I really enjoyed traveling. At that time, I was a poor college student and the easiest and most economical way to travel was to sign up for fieldtrip classes. What could be better than college credit to travel and study the biology and geology of the Hawaiian Islands?
On that trip, I had a stimulating time in Hawaii identifying native plants, visiting archaeological sites, and seeing aa and pahoe pahoe lava. I and my classmates went scuba and skin diving daily and studied parrot fish, angle fish, Moorish idols, moray eels and turtles. The nature guide books said that were turtles in the Hawaiian Islands and the instructors insisted that there were turtles somewhere among the islands, but they were rare. This was true, because during our four week study of the islands, no one in our group saw a turtle.
Exactly one year after my visit to Hawaii, on July 28, 1978, the green sea turtle was listed as a threatened species under the Threatened and Endangered Species Act.
Twenty five years later, I was very excited because I was returning to Maui, and this time I had the opportunity share my knowledge of the biology and geology of the Hawaiian Islands with my two children.
We stood on the beach and before us rolled the big blue Pacific Ocean and I was anxious. It made me uneasy to trust my offspring to the wild of the open sea. My family and I donned our fins and snorkels for my children’s first skin diving experience. With my son close at hand we paddled and swam around. It was amazing to small children that “there’s fish just swimming around in the ocean” and there was nothing to keep those fish from swimming wherever they pleased! Since this was our first excursion, we didn’t want to get too far out or too tired. We’re on our way to shore, feeling very accomplished, when my son suddenly stops me. There ahead is a turtle. It was as big as he and only a few feet away. I found myself experiencing that same childlike surprise and wonder; “there’s a turtle just swimming around in the ocean with no barriers and he can swim wherever he wants!” I knew then that seeing a turtle in the wild would be a highlight of our trip, but it didn’t end there. We went snorkeling at another beach, and there were turtles, and at a third location we saw more turtles; big, beautiful, slow moving, nonchalant, turtles. During our ten day trip we saw over a dozen green sea turtles just swimming around wherever they wanted.
On one occasion, in my excitement I was encouraging my son to see just how close we could get. “Come on, let’s get closer.” I urged him on. He didn’t follow but instead, he stopped me with caution, “Mom, let’s give the turtles some space.” He was right. We backed off, and watched it overtake us in its slow hulking swim. It was then I realized that over the last twenty-five years, green sea turtles were given some space to live and carry-on and flourish. They were beautiful, and I was able to share that awe and wonder of discovery with my children.
Conservation works, we just need to give it some time and space.
Read more about Green Sea Turtle History
