No Ka Honu (The Green Turtle) (Chelonia mydas) Polynesians and other Pacific Islanders hunted turtles, but because there were strict traditional rules that helped protect these special animals, and fewer people in this part of the world, turtles remained plentiful. When western explorers began traveling to America and the Pacific, there were millions of sea turtles in the seas. Traders, settlers and pirates who followed the first European explorers found that one kind of sea turtle had especially tasty meat. This turtle is brown all over, grows to about tree feet in length and often weighs some 400 pounds. The turtle or honu eats algae or limu near the shore. Sailors could easily capture the gentle animal. They could turn the turtle over onto its back so it was helpless, tie its flippers, and keep it aboard their ships to slaughter when they needed fresh meat. The fat inside this turtle`s body was green from the vegetation it ate, so it was named the green turtle. It is the only sea turtle that lives only on plants. Today, hundreds of years later, green turtles are still hunted and taken in some areas of the Pacific. Fortunately, in Hawai`i, all sea turtles are now protected by state and federal laws.

No Ka Honu ('Oma'oma'o) Ua hahai na po'e Polinekia a me na kupa o na mokupuni Pakipika 'e a'e, aka, ma muli o na kapu i malama i na honu kai, a me ka nele o ka nui 'ino o ka po'e ma loko o keia mahele o ka honua, he nui na honu kai i koe. I ka manawa a na po'e haole i huaka'i mua i 'Amelika a ma ka Pakipika he mau miliona honu kai i loko o ke kai. Ua loa'a ho'okahi honu me ka i'o ono loa i na mea kalepa, na mea noho, a me na mea powa o ke kai i hahai i ka mua o na po'e 'imi loa o 'Eulopa. He maku'e ka waiho'olu'u o keia honu, a ulu ia a hiki i na kapua'i 'ekolu, a he 'eha haneli kona kaumaha. 'Ai ka honu i ka limu ma kahi kokoke i ke kpapkai. He mea hikiwale ka hopu 'ia 'ana o ka honu wale e na po'e kelamoku. Hiki lakou ke huli ka honu ma kona kua, a naki'i i kona mau hui a malama ia ma ka moku a hiki i ka nele o ka i'o. He 'oma'oma'o ka momona i loko o ko ka honu kino ma muli o ka limu i 'ai ai, no laila kapa 'ia 'o honu 'oma'oma'o. 'O ia ka honu kai wale no i 'ai i ka limu. I keia la, he mau haneli makahiki i hala aku, mau no ka hahai 'ana o ka honu 'oma'oma'o ma kekahi mau mahele o ka Pakipika. He pomaika'i ia, ma Hawai'i nei ke palekana 'ia nei na honu kai e na kanawai o ka moku'aina a me na kanawai o ke aupuni pekelala.

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