Tokelau’s Young Turtle Carers

Article – RNZ

Meet ‘Popo’ and ‘Uto’- two turtles being looked after by five-year-old Pesi in TokelauLydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific Journalist

In Tokelau, communities are looking after baby turtles after they washed up on the shores of islands in the remote atolls.

Tokelau is a dependent territory of New Zealand, made up of three atolls, in the southern Pacific Ocean.

Five-year-old Ilissapesi Sakalia and her mum Elena Pasilio are incharge of looking after “Popo” and “Uto” two of the more than 30 sea turtles found near their atoll Nukunonu late last year.

‘Popo’ means husked coconut and ‘Uto’ means a coconut sprout.

“We’re looking after them so that they can go back into the ocean when they’re big enough, so that they don’t get eaten by the other sea creatures, like sharks,” Pasilio said.

It’s somewhat of a family tradition and something Elena Pasilio says she experienced and now little Ilissapesi Sakalia is as well.

“We just all look after them until they are big enough and then we let them go back into the ocean,” Ms Pasilio told RNZ Pacific.

“They can be eaten by sharks in our lagoon.”

It takes more than a day to reach Tokelau by boat from Samoa. There is no airline and wobbly internet.

The water is lapping at the shores of three atolls, rooted by rich culture.

“Growing up here is so remote, it’s all you know, such a remote island,” Pasilio explains.

While it’s not every year young turtles end up in Tokelau, it happens often enough for the practice to be a “normal” part of life in Tokelau.

They will look after the turtles for one year before releasing them into the wild again.

Elena’s mum, who is Tokelau’s environment and economic sector director says lessons like this are vital for children.

“It teaches the kids to look after sea life,” Asi Pasilio said.

Tokelau hardcore

The family remembers Elena’s grandad, the late Tioni Pasilio, a matai, council member and mayor who instilled important life lessons in the kids.

Lessons Elena said she now hopes to pass on to her daughter.

“He was such a hardcore Tokelauan,” she said.

“He taught me about our ocean and our land was just to respect that and not to feel like it’s yours, because it’s not. It belongs to the future. We’re just passing by.”

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