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It was a trip to Maui roughly 50 years ago that changed everything for George Balazs.

He had been working toward his master’s degree in tropical agriculture from the University of Hawaii Manoa with the goal of becoming a pig farmer. During a summer break, he decided to sail to Lahaina with his wife.

That’s where they saw a pickup truck loaded with six beautiful, 100-pound sea turtles, still alive and struggling. They were destined to be served as soup in touristy restaurants.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was exceptionally rare to see a sea turtle in the wild. The population was dwindling. The primary cause was commercial harvesting, but disease exacerbated the issue. 

From that moment on, Balazs forgot about pigs and dedicated himself to sea turtle science and conservation.

Over the next 45 years, his research, public speaking and expertise on sea turtle populations, first at UH and then at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service, drove state and nationwide action. 

Now, at 80, Balazs is celebrating the remarkable success of the Hawaii sea turtle conservation movement. 

“I never believed I would live long enough to see a restoration of the Hawaiian green turtle population,” he said. 

Balazs is humble, and insists this was not a one-man show. He credits other scientists, like the , and the general public. 

“Our campaign was very successful. The people themselves said, ‘Yeah, let’s lay off the sea turtles.’ There was goodwill and buy-in from the people of Hawaii,” he said.

Still, colleagues consider him a crucial leader and pioneer in the turtle conservation world.

“He has mentored, guided and championed literally thousands of students to work with sea turtles and his efforts have played a major role in developing sea turtle and conservation scientists throughout the world,” said Marc Rice, co-director of Hawaii Preparatory Academy’s . 

“He was the first sea turtle biologist to recognize the plight of Hawaii’s honu and championed the protection of our turtles from over-exploitation beginning back in the early 1970s,” he said.

Balazs remembers the exact moment when he began to realize the over-exploitation of sea turtles. It was noon on a June day in 1973, just moments after landing a small DC-3 propeller plane on what was then the runway of Tern Island in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

“With some volunteer helpers, I embarked on a summer of keeping track of how many turtles were nesting on the little island,” he said. 

East was considered a primary nesting place for sea turtles, but he remembers they saw just 67 turtles over the whole summer. He returned summer after summer, and the results were frightening. 

He shared his findings with the state. In April 1974, the Board of Land and Natural Resources adopted Regulation 36, which banned all commercial take of sea turtles. 

But state residents could still receive permits to take sea turtles for home consumption. This stipulation was critical, since turtles were a Native Hawaiian food source and used for ceremony. 

“If you think the uniqueness of our Hawaiian culture is of some value to the state, then you must be willing to allow it to occur,” wrote Bill Puleloa, a friend of Balazs’ and aquatic biologist, in a 1998 op-ed in the Honolulu Advertiser.

The regulation worked. After five or six years, Balazs said, he started to notice a quantifiable increase in the population. 

Yet the national sentiment, driven especially by concerns for the green sea turtles in Florida, was that the turtles should be listed under the Endangered Species Act. With honu under federal jurisdiction, subsistence harvesting would become illegal. 

“I started thinking, ‘Wait a minute, maybe this is too much federal overreach,’” he said. “So I wrote an official letter.” 

The letter celebrates the state’s commitment to understanding “this native species for the purposes of protection and perpetuation” and requests that the state “retain jurisdiction over its green turtles.” 

But the sea turtles were added to the endangered species list in 1978. 

“Researchers can take green turtles, but people of Hawaiian ancestry can’t. There’s got to be something wrong with that,” said Balazs. 

As time passed, both after Regulation 36 and the 1978 ESA listing, the sea turtle population increased. 

“We’re kind of a leader in the world of how green turtles can rebound if you take the main hunting pressure off of them, which was, in my mind and everybody’s, the commercial take for the restaurants,” said Balazs. “The turtles were here, there and everywhere.” 

They had recovered so much that Balazs expected them to be delisted in 2015. 

The , citing, according to Balazs, threats associated with climate change. 

In response, Balazs wrote an op-ed that year for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that described the green sea turtle as “genetically, geographically, and ecologically bonded to Hawaii.”

“The turtle, like the Hawaiian culture itself, has flourished and expanded beyond all expectation,” he said. “The time has now come to return stewardship of the honu home to Hawaii, where it rightfully belongs.”

He continues to advocate for cultural harvest and state-led conservation.

In the conclusion of a 2017 scientific paper, he wrote, “A new era should be initiated that encompasses cultural integration by and for the indigenous Hawaiian people that are themselves linked for millennia to their green turtles. Exactly how this will take place should be left to Hawaiians to decide.”

This cultural awareness is celebrated by his colleagues. 

“He works closely with community members in his efforts to embrace the cultural aspects of sea turtle conservation,” said Laura Jim, a science teacher at Hawaii Preparatory Academy and co-director of its Sea Turtle Research Program.

Balazs has been retired since 2017, but he’s still an active member of the turtle conservation community.

He publishes papers, he watches turtle nests — an event that is now common, thanks to him and other conservation advocates. He doles out advice, encouraging scientists to be humble and aware. 

“When you study turtles, study the culture. Talk to and be friends with the people whose traditions and knowledge has been part of their life for millennia,” Balazs said. “Listen to local people. In any way you can, bring in the traditional knowledge.”

Civil Beat’s coverage of climate change is supported by The Healy Foundation, the Environmental Funders Group of the Hawaii Community Foundation, Marisla Fund of the Hawaii Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation.