I was at south end of S Turns in Kahana and went snorkeling in the shallows where the turtles are plentiful. I saw a baby honu caught in some fishing line. The turtle could not get out of the line and was stuck underwater. I tried to pull out the line but it was too meshed in the turtle. Since this was shallow water and close to shore, I asked people on shore if they had a knife. Remarkably, they did. Another person with a snorkel came out and cut the line while I held it taunt. We were able to let the honu free but we found a lot more line. The little honu went right to the surface to get air. What’s more, it only had three flippers, the fourth being a stub. I don’t know what happened but we need to take care of these wonderful creatures. Fishing offshore is plentiful, but letting the line go if it breaks in the water is a big problem to our ocean life.
Illustration: Ron Pitts
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