Conservation and environmental groups are working hard to stop NOAA from taking the Hawaiian green sea turtle off the list of endangered species. 

From a press release: 

More than 100,000 people are opposing a proposal to strip Endangered Species Act protections from the iconic Hawaiian green sea turtle (or “honu” in Hawaiian). Monday was the final day for the public to comment on the National Marine Fisheries Service’s proposal to take the turtles off the list of protected species. The step would allow the turtles to be hunted again. Hunting was a key factor that drove the turtles to the brink of extinction prior to Endangered Species Act protections.

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Hawaiian green sea turtle populations have increased steadily since their hunting was banned and they were given federal protections and listed as threatened under the ESA in 1978. However, the Hawaiian honu is far from reaching the official government recovery goal of at least 5,000 nesters per year.  Today, the population is only at about 10 percent of that goal, with an average around 390 nesting females per year between 2000-2009 in the Hawaiian archipelago, with a high of 843 in 2011.

“It’s far too soon to take away the protections that just recently helped  Hawai’i’s green sea turtle  come  back from the brink of extinction,” said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We’re lucky to have green sea turtles coming back in Hawaii, but they face continuing threats to their existence, and they need the Endangered Species Act.”