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+--- Thread: What is native Hawaiian view on eating turtle? (/showthread.php?tid=19518)
What is native Hawaiian view on eating turtle? - MarkD - 05-10-2018
Second turtle killed in Hawaii. One Big Island, second Kauai
http://www.kitv.com/story/38156078/arrest-made-after-second-turtle-killing-on-kauai
I recently ran across this 2011 petition from a Hawaii organization asking for reconsideration of the ban.
http://www.aohcc.org/images/stories/2012/Azusa/AOHCC%20Honu%20Reso%202011.pdf
Excerpts:
"WHEREAS, the native Hawaiian community has asked for a resumption of the harvest of honu as a traditional food, resource and practice...
WHEREAS, in 2004 George Balazs, National Marine Fisheries Service....reported the honu was approaching the foraging capacity.....
WHEREAS in 2011 the International Union for Conservation of Nature....Turtle Specialist Group....concluded...the population is approaching full recovery, thereby proposing to reclassify the Hawaiian green sea turtle..."
My sense is the petition was probably a one-off thing. I don't see a lot of sentiment in the native Hawaiian community to hunt turtle. Perhaps a faction simply wanted to make a political statement about indigenous rights that they have the right to exercise.
Or perhaps not. Opinions from native Hawaiians on turtle hunting?
If native Hawaiians elect to try to move on the turtle issue, they face much more than dealing with the science-based rules and evidence as to whether the turtle ought to be delisted as an endangered species.
(The delisting of the Yellowstone grizzly bear last June by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service means that the bear might now be hunted.)
They face demonization from animal rights activists, who love to throw around emotional terms like animal murderer. It's evident that these activists to some extent have hijacked conservation movements with their "don't kill animals" agenda. (The word "hijacked" is barely an overstatement.)
Distinctions are key on this sensitive topic. If someone kills endangered seabirds or, worse, a monk seal, full condemnation is justified. Neither of these animals has ever been a regular food source in Oceania. And the monk seal is extraordinarily endangered.
There is basis for both a severe endangered species killing charge and a cruelty to animal charge. Because such killing would be wanton.
Not so with turtle killing. Despite the fact than animal rights extremists like equate eating turtles with the evil of choosing to eat a dog in America, turtles have long been a food source throughout Oceania (and many other coastal regions). Animal rights propaganda does not change that, nor these activists' self-appointed mission to "educate" all cultures around the world about what is acceptable food.
http://sunshinestatenews.com/story/florida-congressmen-stop-global-dog-meat-cat-meat-trade
The big concern in all this is not the activists opinions, and that's all they are. It is that conservation organizations, including USFWS and IUCN, increasing find the activists' "assistance" quite useful. (gotta demonize those animal killers any way we can) The Cecil the Lion episode was a case in point.
Which it means that, increasingly, it is not just the science of whether species are endangered (population size, environment carrying capacity, etc.) that is to determine whether species get legal protection. But propaganda from animal rights extremists.
RE: What is native Hawaiian view on eating turtle? - Rob Tucker - 05-10-2018
You do understand that everyone has an opinion......
RE: What is native Hawaiian view on eating turtle? - MarkD - 05-10-2018
Of course. It is a bit of a rant. But poaching is quite different from maliciously torturing or killing animals for no reason. Many people find it convenient to conflate the two.
RE: What is native Hawaiian view on eating turtle? - Rob Tucker - 05-10-2018
Sure it is different, but not by much.
RE: What is native Hawaiian view on eating turtle? - My 2 cents - 05-10-2018
I ordered turtle in a restaurant once, before the ban, just to try it. Nothing special, imo. You can see plenty of turtles along the coastlines pretty much anywhere in Hawaii, but they are easy prey and have a very fragile life cycle. I came to the conclusion long ago that if the ban was lifted even in limited fashion they would be wiped out very quickly.
RE: What is native Hawaiian view on eating turtle? - dan d - 05-10-2018
The green sea turtle is at one time a mainstay of the local food up untill the 70 ,s
One net fisherman told me his family netted south poit 2hilo. The had a hill of shells the size of a house lot 20 ft hi.
The locals should be able 2 sustainably fish them now, very lean meat cross between chicken and steak. Wife was raised on it.
Dan D
HPP
RE: What is native Hawaiian view on eating turtle? - mella l - 05-10-2018
My view wasn't asked for so I edited my opinion by removing it.
mella l
Art and Science
bytheSEA
RE: What is native Hawaiian view on eating turtle? - Obie - 05-10-2018
Yeah, Mark should ask some native Hawaiians.
RE: What is native Hawaiian view on eating turtle? - Guest - 05-10-2018
+1 Obie, and prolly Mella as wella. : )
RE: What is native Hawaiian view on eating turtle? - glinda - 05-10-2018
quote:Or, ask a Honu.
Originally posted by Obie
Yeah, Mark should ask some native Hawaiians.