{"id":214843,"date":"2025-04-30T14:10:29","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T00:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=214843"},"modified":"2025-04-30T16:11:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T02:11:10","slug":"hawaii-cc-mop-students-turtle-tagging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/04\/30\/hawaii-cc-mop-students-turtle-tagging\/","title":{"rendered":"Turtle tagging: Hands-on research for Hawai\u02bbi CC<\/abbr> Marine Option Program students"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Students from all majors can tailor MOP<\/abbr> to their interests.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hawaiʻi<\/span> Community College<\/a> students are diving into marine science, by helping count and study 80 endangered green sea turtles along Hawaiʻi<\/span> Island\u2019s coastlines in the first year of the college\u2019s nascent Marine Option Program<\/a> (MOP<\/abbr>).<\/p>\n

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Students safely hand-capture green sea turtles, conduct health evaluations, measure and weigh them.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“I took a zoology class at Hawaiʻi<\/span> CC<\/abbr> and in my lab portion we got to go to Punaluʻu<\/span>. We did turtle tagging, which was very inspiring to me because since I was a child I\u2019ve wanted to do marine science,\u201d said Hawaiʻi<\/span> CC<\/abbr> graduate Eliea Mitchell-Butler. “And to be able to do it and get involved with the local community was very touching because [the 40-year data set at Punaluʻu<\/span> Black Sand Beach] is the largest and longest-going database worldwide on green sea turtles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students worked hands-on in the Hilo Sea Turtle Health and Population Assessment Program through a special research permit with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA<\/abbr>). Under faculty supervision, they hand-captured turtles, assessed their health, measured and weighed them, and applied tags for tracking. Research was conducted at Punaluʻu<\/span> Black Sand Beach and Haʻena<\/span> Beach on Hawaiʻi<\/span> Island.<\/p>\n

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MOP<\/abbr> offers students early exposure to marine science through internships, personal research projects.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Even though we\u2019re the youngest program in the entire system, Hawaiʻi<\/span> CC<\/abbr>\u2019s Marine Option Program is one of the most unique in that we offer research in sea turtles,\u201d said MOP<\/abbr> program coordinator Jen Sims.<\/p>\n

Recent Hawaiʻi<\/span> CC<\/abbr> graduate Christian Reynolds said, “I never thought I would be part of real conservation science this soon in my undergraduate education. I joined MOP<\/abbr> at Hawaiʻi<\/span> Community College because it offered me the same opportunities that I would have otherwise had at a four-year university but at a much lower price.\u201d<\/p>\n

MOP<\/abbr> also offers internships, research projects and cultural fieldwork open to all majors.<\/p>\n

For more information about the Marine Option Program at Hawaiʻi<\/span> CC<\/abbr>, email Sims at jlsims@hawaii.edu<\/a> or visit the website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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No other community college in the state incorporates endangered species research so directly.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hawaiʻi<\/span> CC<\/abbr> students in Marine Option Program tag endangered sea turtles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":214847,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[61,1535,262,71],"class_list":["post-214843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-hawaii-community-college","tag-marine-option-program","tag-marine-science","tag-uh-community-colleges","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t