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Vol. 11 (1): June 2008 |
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Report to CongressThe Marine Mammal Commission’s Annual Report to Congress for 2006 was published in October last year. For those interested in current Hawaiian monk seal population trends, human and natural threats to the species, and the efforts now underway to stem the species’ continuing decline, the MMC report is an indispensable guide. The report is available for download directly from the MMC: Marine Mammal Commission. 2007. Annual Report to Congress 2006. Marine Mammal Commission, Bethesda, Maryland: 1-208. [PDF |
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Another recently-published Marine Mammal Commission report addressed to Congress discusses the biological viability of the country’s most endangered marine mammals, and also the cost-effectiveness of programmes implemented to conserve or protect them. Species covered include the Hawaiian monk seal, Monachus schauinslandi, and the Caribbean monk seal, Monachus tropicalis.
Marine Mammal Commission. 2008. The biological viability of the most endangered marine mammals and the cost-effectiveness of protection programs. The Marine Mammal Commission’s Report to Congress, February 2008: 1-448. [PDF 
5.5MB]
Reflecting a growing public interest in Hawaii in the fate of the monk seal, and new blog devoted to the species has been set up at www.monksealmania.blogspot.com. The site airs news, comment and opinion on seal issues on the Main Hawaiian islands, acting as a focal point for sightings and protection activities by volunteers.
Under increasing pressure to deliver tangible conservation results for a species still tail-spinning into extinction, NMFS is spearheading a raft of measures to stem the decline and promote recovery.
Aside from other key activities, some of which are reflected in our Press Watch below, or discussed in the Marine Mammal Commission reports above, one priority is to engage more Hawaiian residents in sightings and population surveys, thereby gathering vital information on the species while enhancing public awareness and providing monitoring and protection for hauled-out seals.
For those interested in participating, volunteer information can be found at the following sites:
Various locations
Hawaii International Year of the Reef: http://www.iyor-hawaii.org/2008/02/25/monk-seal-volunteer-orientations-various-locations/
MonkSealMania: www.monksealmania.blogspot.com
Monk seal volunteer opportunities on O‘ahu
http://raisingislands.blogspot.com/2008/02/monk-seal-volunteer-opportunities-on.html
Monk seal volunteer counts on Kauai
http://savekauai.org/thrid-annual-monk-seal-count
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The second issue of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument newsletter, published in February, outlines the protected area’s management plan, and explains recent changes in the permit application process.
PMNM. 2008. Monument management plan update 2. Ka Palapala Ho‘omaupopo, February 2008 [PDF 700KB]
Objections to Monk Seal as State Animal
Several [Hawaii State Legislature] bills dealt with banning cruelty to animals, eating pets and hoarding large numbers of animals. A bill that would make the Hawaiian monk seal the state land mammal brought objections by Sen. Slom. He produced a poster of the Hawaiian hoary bat, which is Hawaii’s only native land mammal. In contrast, the monk seal is a pinniped, a species of marine mammal. (Hawaii Reporter, 3 May 2008).
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?fce89197-87b1-448a-99da-8ec981f2abf3
Biologists look for ways to protect monk seals from sharks
HONOLULU (AP) Federal marine biologists have received state approval to begin testing nonlethal ways of protecting Hawaiian monk seal pups from sharks in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.
The biologists are expected to try magnets and boat engine recordings to deter the sharks. They also plan to use visual arrays made of PVC tubing, fishing floats or foam ‘noodles’.
George Antonelis of the National Marine Fisheries Service says the experiment would be the first of its kind.
Officials say attempts to reduce the number of sharks using a controversial culling program have been unsuccessful.
The Hawaiian monk seal population is estimated between 11 and 12-hundred, the lowest number in recorded history. […]
The state Board of Land and Natural Resources granted the permit for the shark-deterrent experiments Friday. The experiments are planned for May through September, the pupping season. […] (Associated Press, 27 April 2008)
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/biologists-look-for-ways-to-protect-monk/n20080427004309990009
Monk seals face ‘dire straits’
Volunteers sought to collect data, educate public about species
Long before the first speck of land that would become the Big Island of Hawai‘i ever appeared above sea level, Hawaiian monk seals by the thousands were swimming those Pacific waters.
Today, the mammals are on their way to extinction.
“This is a very critically endangered species,” said David Schofield, regional marine mammal response coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries. “They are in dire straits.”
Schofield coordinated the monk seal count efforts yesterday of some 500 volunteers who scouted beaches across the state. The count is a pilot project that began with the first count last April, another in October, and the third yesterday. The initial count was 41 sightings, the second 26, and yesterday’s preliminary count was 24. (Schofield believes the tally will be greater as more numbers come in this week.)
In addition to the count, the exercise is part of a concerted effort to raise awareness about the plight of the seals and drum up volunteer support.
Gov. Linda Lingle issued a proclamation making April 19, 2008, Monk Seal Day, pointing out that according to NOAA, “a sustained population of 2,900 (monk) seals is required for the species’ recovery.”
And that population, according to Schofield, needs to be maintained for two decades in order to move monk seals out of the endangered species category. Sadly, he said, the seals are declining at the alarming rate of about 4 percent a year, and their population has dwindled to about 1,100 in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, with an additional 80 to 100 here in the main Hawaiian Islands — putting the population well below half the number needed to keep the species alive.
State Rep. Kymberly Pine, who was among the seal watchers on O‘ahu yesterday, has also tried to raise awareness and educate the public about the crisis by introducing two bills that would make the monk seal the state mammal as well as make the third Saturday in April a permanent Monk Seal Day.
Pine, R-43rd (‘Ewa Beach, Iroquois Point, Pu‘uloa), said she got involved when she discovered that many residents and visitors are unaware of the existence of monk seals in Hawai‘i.
“And a lot of them are not aware that monk seals are in huge decline,” said Pine as she walked the beach off Diamond Head, with Schofield and volunteer NOAA Monk Seal Response Team members Senchal Chai and Chelsea Dudoit. “We’ve got about 1,220 monk seals now. But they think that in about five or six years, that will drop to around 1,000.”
Compounding the problem have been horror stories, she said — such as the female monk seal that came ashore on the Wai‘anae Coast last year snarled in so much fishnet that it died, or the man who actually turned his dog loose on a monk seal recently this year.
Pine, Schofield and the volunteers believe the seal’s dismal prospects can be turned around if more people become involved.
“It can’t just be me and the other federal agencies trying to recover this species,” Schofield said. “It’s going to take all of us at the community level to take responsibility over these animals. If we start now, we can save the species.”
There are numerous ways people can get involved. Among the simplest is to stop throwing trash and netting on the beaches or in the ocean. More active involvement include staying 150 feet away from any monk seal that’s sighted, and to call NOAA Fisheries to alert them to the seal’s presence.
“Just calling and letting us know where the monk seals are is important because we know most of them as individuals here on the main islands. And if people send us a picture or a description of the animal, we’ll be able to tell which one it is,” Schofield said.
Otherwise, he said volunteers are needed to watch over monk seals that are molting sometimes for weeks on the beach to protect them from dogs and other disturbances.
“And if we have a pupping event, people can volunteer to watch over the mom and pup for a total of five to seven weeks. We need volunteers to collect nursing and behavioral data and to educate the public about the mom and pup and why it‘s important not disturb them.”
To report a monk seal sighting, call the NOAA Fisheries 24/7 hot line at 888-256-9840, or on O‘ahu, to volunteer or report a seal sighting, call 220-7802. (Will Hoover, Honolulu Advertiser, 20 April 2008)
Chester the monk seal is found dead on island
After more than five years of making appearances around the state’s beaches, a ‘celebrity’ Hawaiian monk seal was found dead Wednesday.
Hawaiian monk seal RK15, dubbed Chester, was found dead Wednesday afternoon on Rabbit Island. At about 4:30 p.m. a team of marine mammal experts retrieved the carcass.
Chester was identified through natural bleach marks on his neck and flipper. He was most recently seen on Kailua Beach, where he molted ashore for about 27 days in January.
“This seal raised a lot of public awareness,” said David Schofield, marine mammal response coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service.
“It helped to build our volunteer network here on Oahu. We’re very disappointed and sad at the loss of this animal.” […]
Schofield said there were no signs of blunt trauma or human interference in the seal’s death. Tissue from the seal’s body will be sent to labs nationwide for further analysis.
There might be anywhere between 80 and 100 monk seals in the Hawaiian islands. There are about 1,100 in the world today, according to NOAA officials. […] (Gene Park, Honolulu Star Bulletin, 28 March 2008)
http://starbulletin.com/2008/03/28/news/story04.html
Diary from the middle of nowhere
Our environment correspondent David Shukman is on the remote Pacific island of Midway to report on the threat of plastic rubbish drifting in the ocean. Plastic debris collects around the island, scene of a seminal World War 2 battle, with serious consequences for its wildlife.
On an island far, far away... Anyone missing this little toy, some kind of futuristic space warrior? I found it on a beach during a clean-up operation. It has a lot of miles under its belt - it must have travelled across a great tract of the Pacific Ocean to get here. How do I know? Well, for one thing there are no children on Midway and haven’t been for years. Also, it was buried amid a vast tangle of fishing nets, bottles, computers, crates and baskets, all of which had drifted here on one of the world’s great ocean currents, the North Pacific Gyre. Like something out of the film Toy Story, this little figure must have spent months at sea, surviving storms and maybe even being swallowed by an albatross and fed to a chick that then died. Who knows? Maybe a child dropped it overboard during a holiday cruise. Or it was chucked into the rubbish and somehow got swept into the sea. Maybe a household in Japan or California was having a spring-clean and, with the children growing up, the toys were no longer wanted. Any ideas? Please let me know. Witnessing a beach clean-up is like peering into a darker side of our throwaway culture.
We talk about ‘throwing away’ but in reality ‘away’ can mean a place like Midway. And the cost is grisly. The island is littered with the bodies of albatrosses that haven’t made it. Their stomachs are brimming with plastic. Brightly coloured, and similarly shaped to the birds’ much-loved diet of squid, the tiny plastic items we use every day often prove lethal. (BBC News, Science/Nature 26 March 2008),
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7312777.stm
Animal instincts fill Senate
Naming a hoary bat or monk seal as the state mammal. Making it illegal to eat cats, dogs or horses.
Animal issues prowled the state Senate floor yesterday.
Republican Sen. Gordon Trimble accused the Democrats of ‘cultural insensitivity’ by pushing Senate Bill 3146, which would make it a misdemeanor to consume a cat, dog or horse. […]
Another Republican, Sen. Sam Slom, tried to get attention for a forgotten state mammal, the Hawaiian hoary bat.
Slom (R, Diamond Head-Hawaii Kai) said SB 2465, which would make the monk seal the state mammal, was confusing because the state has already designated the humpback whale as the state marine mammal and the seal also swims in the ocean.
The bat, however, Slom said is a true Hawaiian land animal and deserved recognition.
“Who speaks for the hoary bat, Madame President? I do,” said Slom as he unfurled a poster of the bat named for the frosted color of its hair. Slom then voted for the seal bill, which also was sent to the House. (Richard Borreca, Honolulu Star Bulletin, 5 March 2008)
http://starbulletin.com/2008/03/05/news/story05.html
Why plastic is the scourge of sea life
One cigarette lighter, a toothbrush, a toy robot and a tampon applicator. The list of plastic items recovered from the stomach of a Laysan albatross chick that died on a remote Pacific island reads like a random assortment of everyday household objects.
It is now clear this chick is among many thousands of seabirds that have died from ingesting plastic debris, and nowhere in the world seems to be too isolated for this deadly form of marine pollution.
Dutch scientists have found that more than nine out of 10 European fulmars – seabirds that eat at sea – die with plastic rubbish in their stomachs. A study of 560 fulmars from eight countries revealed they had ingested an average of 44 plastic items. The stomach of one fulmar that died in Belgium contained 1,603 separate scraps of plastic.
Birds are not the only ones to suffer. Turtles, whales, seals and sea lions have all eaten plastic. But the most sinister problem may be a hidden one at the other end of the food chain.
Small sand-hoppers, barnacles and lugworms have also been found to have ingested tiny fragments of plastic, some of which are thinner than a human hair. Apart from the physical damage these particles cause, they may also transfer toxic chemicals to creatures at the base of the marine food web.
It is fairly well established that certain toxins in the ocean, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), the pesticide DDT and other potentially dangerous substances, can become concentrated on the surface of plastic debris. […] (Steve Connor, The Independent, Science, 5 February 2008)
The world’s rubbish dump: a garbage tip that stretches from Hawaii to Japan
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A ‘plastic soup’ of waste floating in the Pacific Ocean is growing at an alarming rate and now covers an area twice the size of the continental United States, scientists have said. The vast expanse of debris – in effect the world’s largest rubbish dump – is held in place by swirling underwater currents. This drifting ‘soup’ stretches from about 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan.
Charles Moore, an American oceanographer who discovered the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ or ‘trash vortex’, believes that about 100 million tons of flotsam are circulating in the region. Marcus Eriksen, a research director of the US-based Algalita Marine Research Foundation, which Mr Moore founded, said yesterday: “The original idea that people had was that it was an island of plastic garbage that you could almost walk on. It is not quite like that. It is almost like a plastic soup. It is endless for an area that is maybe twice the size as continental United States.”
Curtis Ebbesmeyer, an oceanographer and leading authority on flotsam, has tracked the build-up of plastics in the seas for more than 15 years and compares the trash vortex to a living entity: “It moves around like a big animal without a leash.” When that animal comes close to land, as it does at the Hawaiian archipelago, the results are dramatic. “The garbage patch barfs, and you get a beach covered with this confetti of plastic,” he added. […]
According to the UN Environment Programme, plastic debris causes the deaths of more than a million seabirds every year, as well as more than 100,000 marine mammals. Syringes, cigarette lighters and toothbrushes have been found inside the stomachs of dead seabirds, which mistake them for food.
Plastic is believed to constitute 90 per cent of all rubbish floating in the oceans. The UN Environment Programme estimated in 2006 that every square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of floating plastic.
Dr Eriksen said the slowly rotating mass of rubbish-laden water poses a risk to human health, too. Hundreds of millions of tiny plastic pellets, or nurdles – the raw materials for the plastic industry – are lost or spilled every year, working their way into the sea. These pollutants act as chemical sponges attracting man-made chemicals such as hydrocarbons and the pesticide DDT. They then enter the food chain. “What goes into the ocean goes into these animals and onto your dinner plate. It’s that simple,” said Dr Eriksen. (Kathy Marks, Asia-Pacific Correspondent, and Daniel Howden, The Independent, 5 February 2008)
Monk Seal Molts on Windward Oahu
A Hawaiian Monk Seal named Chester (named for the scar on its chest) hauled up onto a Windward Oahu beach Jan. 1, 2008.
Two weeks later it had not gone back into the water. Not to hunt for fish. Not even to cool off.
Chester, however, is not sick or dying. Chester is molting.
“The animal will physically shed its skin and fur, so if you watch him long enough, when he scratches you’ll see big clumps ... come off his body. This is important. All seal species will shed their fur and skin, and it’s to rejuvenate and renew that insulated and protective barriers that seals have,” said David Schofield, a marine mammal response coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
NOAA does not want us to disclose Chester’s exact location. Too many visitors could disrupt the molting process.
Monk seals are an endangered species. They rarely haul up on the beach where Chester’s been for two weeks. In fact, Chester is often spotted in the water off Ewa Beach but not on the Windward side. […]
Volunteers are giving up their free time to stand guard over Chester. They ask people to leash their dogs and answer questions for curious beach goers.
“People will ask, is it dead? Is it sick. How do you know it’s not sick. And I think they associate it with a dolphin or a whale. Do we need to push it back into the water,” Donna Festa told KGMB9.
Festa said she did not know too much about monk seals before Chester arrived. Since then she has learned a lot and grown to like her role as Chester’s protector. (Brooks Baehr, KGMB9, 14 January 2008)
http://kgmb9.com/main/content/view/3339/40/
Hawaii Land Department Receives U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Grant to Restore Kure Atoll Wildlife Habitats
The State of Hawai‘i’s Department of Land and Natural Resources will receive a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Coastal Wetlands Conservation grant program to restore approximately 300 acres of wildlife habitat at Kure Atoll State Wildlife Sanctuary. The award is one of 29 grants announced today by the Service for conservation projects encompassing nearly 10,000 acres of coastal wetlands in 11 states and Puerto Rico.
The grant will allow Division of Forestry and Wildlife staff to restore 1 acre of emergent wetland habitat for the reintroduction of the endangered Laysan duck, restore 13 acres of seabird nesting habitat by removing invasive plant species, and remove marine debris from 36 acres of marine intertidal shore habitat and 250 acres of subtidal coral reef habitat. The federal funding will be matched by more than $150,000 from partners.
Located at the northwest tip of the Hawaiian archipelago within the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, Kure Atoll provides nesting habitat for 17 seabird species, including four species identified as “highly imperiled” or of “high concern” in the U.S. Seabird Conservation Plan for the Pacific Region and listed as priority species by the North American Bird Conservation Initiative. These four species are the black-footed albatross, Laysan albatross, Christmas shearwater, and Tristram’s storm-petrel.
The atoll also hosts the endangered Hawaiian monk seal, threatened green turtle, Hawaiian spinner dolphins, Galapagos and tiger sharks, spotted eagle rays, and large predatory jacks. Despite its northern location and relatively cool waters, Kure has almost 80,000 acres of coral reef habitat supporting 155 species of reef fishes. […]
Approximately 4,000 pounds of marine debris will be removed from Kure Atoll over the next 2 years with funding from this grant. The endangered Hawaiian monk seal suffers one of the highest entanglement rates of any seal or sea lion species, with 261 monk seals found entangled in debris between 1982 and 2003 across the state. Marine debris also affects sea turtles, seabird species, and other marine mammals. Removing debris such as fishing nets and lines, rings, buckets, and plastic crates from shorelines and coral reefs will help reduce this threat. In addition, marine debris adversely affects coral reef ecosystems by breaking or smothering reefs. […] (Barbara A. Maxfield, Hawaii Reporter, 4 January 2008)
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?747a8a01-6c26-421a-906f-3f3846e5753e
Monk seal encounter at Pearl and Hermes
On the first dive of the day I was out snorkeling over the benthic teams taking photographs. We were at a back reef site at Pearl and Hermes Atoll just inside the barrier reef in a shallow patch reef area. […]
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The entangled monk seal. |
To my delight, and then to my shock, I saw a young monk seal ensconced with fishing nets around its neck, trailing thick heavy line over six feet in length. It seemed to want help, coming so curiously close to me, yet fearful and stressed by the object so obviously tight and burdensome. I watched as the monk seal rubbed its body and the net repeatedly against the vertical sides of the rocky reef structure, attempting to free itself from its bondage. It was unknowingly making the situation worse. The netting needed to come off over its head. It looked like an easy fix…but the monk seal kept distance. The ‘omilu from the cleaning station showed up with interest in the seal and out of the blue appeared an ‘ulua. Both jacks pursued the seal out of sight.
Some of the divers on the benthic team witnessed the monk seal, too. The helplessness we all felt was excruciating. The horror and tragedy of such a fragile species vulnerable to the hundreds of tons of marine debris that finds its way here to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands should not go unnoticed. The damage by the net was still minimal at this point, but it will get worse and the animal will most likely die, either weakened to predation or from injuries due to the net itself. Our encounter with the monk seal weighed heavy in our hearts and minds, and will forever be etched in our memories. (Darla White, NWHI Multi-Agency Education Project, 5 October 2007)
http://www.hawaiianatolls.org/research/Sept_Oct2007/Seal_debris.php
Big Isle monk seal’s fate is unknown
Question: What ever happened to the Hawaiian monk seal that was getting too friendly with swimmers on the Big Island’s Kailua-Kona Coast a few years back and was relocated to Johnston Atoll? [see TMG 6 (2): 2003]
Answer: The seal in question, a 300-pound male, was flown to Johnston Atoll in December 2003 after two attempts to relocate it away from people but keep it on the Big Island failed.
Though the then-2 1/2-year-old seal known as RM 34 was outfitted with a radio transmitter, the device never worked after the seal was released, said Thea Johanos, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wildlife biologist.
The seal has not been spotted since its relocation, and NOAA officials are unsure of its fate because the tracking device does not work.
Since the 1980s as many as nine male Hawaiian monk seals have been relocated to Johnston Atoll, mostly because they have bullied or killed other seals, Johanos said. Because there are no permanent wildlife officials at Johnston Atoll, how many of those seals remain there is also unknown. […] (Diana Leone, Honolulu Star Bulletin, 15 September 2007)
http://starbulletin.com/2007/09/15/news/whatever.html
Superferry Bad for Hawaii’s Sealife?
I was just told that a Superferry official is quoted as saying that since the Superferry has no propellers, it does not pose a hazard to sea life. This person has a bright future waiting if they ever become a state Department of Transportation official. Imagine how this kind of thinking could simplify life for automobile drivers.
Cars and trucks have no propellers, therefore, at speeds up to 42 mph they should pose no hazard to dogs, cats, and little children. No more slowing down in school zones. Cars and trucks are blunt, so kids should be able to bounce right off and be just fine. Wait, that’s not fair. School zones are heavily populated, so maybe we should have drivers plow through at 25 mph or so. Residential streets are sparsely populated, though, so cruising along at 42 mph, a dull thud from the occasional dog, cat, child, or monk seal won’t be noticed. […] (Neil Rhoads, Hawaii Reporter, 30 August 2007)
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?3fbc709a-46eb-45e7-a1f0-525ac95a87a0
EndQuoteRethinking Hawaiian monk seal conservation SANDY BEACH (KHNL) – Hawaiian monk seals are extremely endangered marine mammals. One dedicated Oahu resident works daily, without pay, to protect the species. “The one thing that I know about monk seals is, I don’t know anything about monk seals, and the more I know, the less I know,” said volunteer DB Dunlap.
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