Media Watch, The Huffington Post (Audry McAvoy, Associated Press), 21 May 2011
Federal biologists scouring for ways to spare the critically endangered Hawaiian monk seal from extinction are embracing a desperate if unorthodox strategy: They want to pluck seal pups from the small, pristine island atolls where they’re born and move them closer to Honolulu and other highly populated areas.
Scientists say this counterintuitive step is needed to help save a species that’s declining at a rate of 4 percent annually. But it is already proving to be controversial, and even unpopular among fishermen who don’t want hungry seals eating their bait and accidentally getting caught in their nets and lines.
The National Marine Fisheries Service plans to formally propose the “translocation” of the seals in July, The Associated Press has learned. It wants to bring a few recently weaned female pups to the main Hawaiian Islands each year, keep them here until they’re three years old, and then send them back to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
“We’re desperate. That’s the bottom line. We’re watching this species just crash right in front of our eyes. This is really one of the few things that we think has a chance of making a difference,” said Jeff Walters, the agency’s Hawaiian monk seal recovery coordinator. […Continues…]
Source: Feds aim to save Hawaiian monk seal, The Huffington Post (Audry McAvoy, Associated Press), 21 May 2011