“A Closer Look at Hawaiʻi’s Sea Turtles” is Topic of Sept. 9 “Know Your Ocean Speaker Series” Webinar

A free Zoom webinar offering “A Closer Look at Hawaiʻiʻs Sea Turtles” will be presented on Wednesday, September 9 from 5:30 to 7 pm Hawaii Standard Time as part of Maui Nui Marine Resource Councilʻs  monthly “Know Your Ocean Speaker Series.” It will also air via Facebook Live at facebook.com/mnmrc, the Facebook page of Maui Nui Marine Resource Council.

The talk will feature presentations by Dr. Camryn Allen, a NOAA wildlife endocrinologist,  and Shandell Brunson, NOAA’s sea turtle stranding coordinator for Hawaiʻi and the Pacific Islands region.

Dr. Allen is the Supervisory Marine Biological Researcher (JIMAR) at the Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research at NOAA Fisheries Pacific Island Fisheries Science Center in the Protected Species Division. She created a sea turtle endocrinology laboratory to examine sex ratios of sea turtles in the wild.  Her talk will present findings on the ratio of male vs. female turtles at foraging grounds — and what that means for the potential impacts of climate change on our sea turtle populations.

Shandell Brunson is a biological sciences technician with the Marine Turtle Biology and Assessment Program and is NOAA’s sea turtle stranding coordinator for Hawaiʻi and the Pacific Islands region. She will share findings from sea turtle strandings in Hawai’i, including what’s being learned about threats from strandings, rehabilitations and deaths.

Our guest emcee is Darla Palmer-Ellingson, local radio show host of the public affairs program, Island Environment 360 Maui’s only commercially broadcast public affairs show on environmental and related Hawaiian cultural topics. The program is made possible by H-Hawaii Media.

This free online event is part of Maui Nui Marine Resource Councilʻs “Know Your Ocean Speaker Series” and is made possible with support from the County of Maui Mayorʻs Office of Economic Development.

Advance reservations are for the Zoom webinar.  To make your free reservation, please visit https://bit.ly/HawaiiSeaTurtles.

The talk will also be presented on Maui Nui Marine Resource Councilʻs Facebook Live page at https://www.facebook.com/MNMRC.

Questions will be accepted from the audience on both Zoom and Facebook.

 

Photos at left: Dr. Camryn Allen at work in the field.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo below: Shandell Brunson at a training with Maui Ocean Center Marine Institute (MOCMI) last November.