Press Watch, Honolulu Advertiser, February 1, 2010
Population down to about 1,100 in Isles, with annual decline of 4% each year
The 2009 Hawaiian monk seal breeding season produced the fewest pups in at least 10 years as the highly endangered marine mammal species continued its slide toward possible extinction.
NOAA Fisheries biologists counted 119 seal pups born in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands last year, compared with 138 in 2008.
Charles Littnan, lead scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program, said the numbers are discouraging, even though monk seal sightings are becoming more frequent in the main Hawaiian Islands, where 15 births were recorded.
“We’re still seeing a pretty steady decline. Every location (in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands) was down this year,” he said.
There are an estimated 1,100 monk seals in the Islands. With the population declining at a rate of 4 percent annually, biologists predict their numbers will dip below 1,000 in the next three to four years, making the Hawaiian monk seal one of the world’s rarest species. […]