Marine Turtle Research

An important part of the Center's research mission is to provide the scientific foundation for conservation and management actions to recover depleted populations of sea turtles. More...

News and Highlights

• November 26, 2012
  

  News on PIFSC Sea Turtle Research

  In April, Shawn Murakawa, a biologist in the Marine Turtle Research Program (MTRP) successfully defended her University of Hawaii Master's thesis in Animal Sciences. Her thesis was entitled "Determination of growth spurts in Hawaiian green sea turtles using skeletochronology and histological analysis of gonads". More...
• August 17, 2012
  

  Marine Turtle Research Program Engaged in Research Projects at Home and Abroad

  PIFSC scientists have been actively pursuing sea turtle research projects on the home front and in the wider area of the North Pacific. More...
• July 23, 2012
  

  PIFSC Scientist Receives Presidential Early-Career Award

  Today, President Obama named PIFSC Scientist Kyle Van Houtan as a recipient of the 2011 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The award is the highest honor given by the federal government to outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their careers. More...
• October 1, 2011
  

  Final Deployment of Loggerhead Turtles Outfitted with Satellite-transmitter Tags Marks Successful Collaboration with Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium

  In July 2011, PIFSC scientist George Balazs, leader of the Center's Marine Turtle Research Program (MTRP), worked with colleagues from Japan and Hong Kong to deploy satellite-transmitter tracking tags on immature loggerhead turtles captive-bred and reared for research at the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium (PNPA). More...

Recent Staff Publications

• October 10, 2012

  Resource requirements of the Pacific leatherback turtle population

  Jones TT, Bostrom BL, Hastings MD, Van Houtan KS, Pauly D, Jones DR
  [2012] PLoS ONE 7(10): e45447. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0045447

  View Abstract Download ( 0.5 MB PDF )
• October 1, 2012

  Age and growth rates of Hawaiian hawskbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) using skeletochronology

  Snover ML, Balazs GH, Murakawa SKK, Hargrove SK, Rice MR, Seitz WA
  [2013] Marine Biology 160: 37-46. DOI: 10.1007/s00227-012-2058-7

  View Abstract
• September 6, 2012

  Report of The Sea Turtle Longline Fishery Post-release Mortality Workshop, November 15-16, 2011

  Swimmer Y, Gilman E, Organizers
  [2012] U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NOAA Technical Memorandum NOAA-TM-NMFS-PIFSC-34, 32 p

  Download ( 0.5 MB PDF )
• May 15, 2012

  Hawksbill sea turtles in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

  Van Houtan KS, Kittinger JN, Lawrence AL, Yoshinaga C, Born VR, Fox A
  [2012] Chelonian Conservation and Biology 11(1): 117-121. DOI: 10.2744/CCB-0984.1

  View Abstract
• May 9, 2012

  New primers reveal the presence of a duplicate histone H3 in the marine turtle leech Ozobranchus branchiatus

  Lavretsky P, Truong TM, McGowin AE, Balazs GH, Peters JL
  [2012] Conservation Genetics Resources 4(2): 487-490. DOI: 10.1007/s12686-011-9581-6

  View Abstract
• January 21, 2012

  Spillover effects of environmental regulation for sea turtle protection: the case of the Hawaii shallow-set longline fishery

  Chan HL, Pan M
  [2012] U.S. Dept. of Commerce, NOAA Technical Memorandum NOAA-TM-NMFS-PIFSC-30, 38 p. + Appendices

  Download ( 1.4 MB PDF )