YouTube Playlist: Collection of videos on Koki, the monk seal pup born at Koki Beach Park, Hana, Maui, on October 9, 2009.
Visitor injured in encounter with monk seal off Kauai
Press Watch, Honolulu Advertiser, December 21, 2009
A 28-year-old female visitor from Kirkland, Wash. sustained superficial, non life-threatening injuries Monday in an attack by an adult female monk seal in waters off Kaua’i. […]
The incident took place at around 4:43 p.m. at Mahaulepu Beach on the south shore.
The woman had been snorkeling with a friend at the beach when the current sent her adrift to an area where several monk seals, including an adult female and a pup, were swimming.
The adult female apparently felt threatened by the snorkeler and attacked her. […]
Monk seal’s death on Molokai investigated as deliberate killing
Press Watch, Honolulu Advertiser, December 17, 2009
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service’s Office of Law Enforcement is investigating the recent death of an endangered Hawaiian monk seal on Molokai as a deliberate killing.
An adult male monk seal was discovered dead on Monday, southeast of Kaunakakai, said David Schofield, with NOAA’s Pacific Island Regional Office’s marine mammal response program.
A necropsy of the seal on Tuesday determined that it had been killed intentionally, Schofield said. […]
Anyone with information about the seal’s death is encouraged to call NOAA’s 24-hour enforcement hot line at 800-853-1964. […]
This year on Kauai, two Hawaiian monk seals have been deliberately killed, alarming conservationists who are working hard to preserve the rare seals, which are found only in Hawaii. The wild population of the seals is 1,200 or less and dropping 4 percent a year. […]
WANTED | $5000 Reward
NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement has issued a WANTED poster for “information leading to the arrest and conviction of person(s) responsible for killing Hawaiian Monk Seal RI-19”.
Reward offered for info on slaying of monk seal
Press Watch, Honolulu Star Bulletin, December 9, 2009
Federal officials are offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer of an endangered Hawaiian monk seal on Kauai in April.
The 5-year-old male seal [RK19] was found dead from foul play on a remote beach near Kaumakani, on the west side of the island, on April 19, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Law Enforcement.
“The killing of this endangered Hawaiian monk seal is not only a violation of federal law, but a crime against all the people who call Hawaii their home,” said Special Agent in Charge William Pickering, of NOAA OLE’s Pacific Islands Division. “It is our hope that this reward will bring someone forward that can supply us with the information needed to arrest and convict those who would commit such a heinous act.” […]
It is illegal to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture or collect any endangered species, according to NOAA. Violations can result in criminal and civil penalties of not more than $50,000, a term of imprisonment of one year or both.
Anyone with information about the case can contact the NOAA enforcement hot line at (800) 853-1964.
Monachus Guardian published
Just published: the November 2009 issue of The Monachus Guardian, the biannual electronic journal focusing on the Mediterranean, Hawaiian and Caribbean monk seals. The site can be accessed at http://www.monachus-guardian.org.
This issue features news and articles by some 30 authors from 13 countries from across the range of the genus, from Hawaii to Mauritania, Turkey to Spain, Madeira to Greece.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CURRENT ISSUE:
Guest Editorial: Monk seals and fisheries need attention, education and cooperation, by Trisha Kehaulani Watson.
International News: Quebec workshop builds Med-Pacific links, but will action ever follow?…
Hawaiian News: Short-lived freedom for KP2…
Mediterranean News: Greece: Orphaned, newborn monk seal rescued at Kefalonia… Madeira: Young seal chooses busy Funchal as home… Mauritania: Reaching the 50-pup mark at Cabo Blanco… Turkey: Monk seals monitored at Karaburun Peninsula…
Cover Story: Tracking Artemis: Making sense out of a young seal’s death, by Panagiotis Dendrinos & Emily Joseph.
In Focus I: Progressive re-colonization of monk seal resting and reproduction habitats as the result of strict protection, by Pablo Fernández de Larrinoa, Hamdi M’Barek, Moulaye Haye, Miguel Ángel Cedenilla, Mercedes Muñoz, Ana Maroto & Luis Mariano González.
In Focus II: Monk seal sightings in Italy move to the central Tyrrhenian sea, by Giulia Mo.
Perspectives I: Tackling the conflict between seals and fisheries in Greece: an end or a beginning? by Stella Adamantopoulou and Vangelis Paravas.
Perspectives II: Mallorca’s lone seal: the 2009 follow-up, by Antoni Font and Joan Mayol.
Letters to the Editor: Seals of Coincidence, by Professor Keith Ronald… and Mediterranean monk seal encounters – Dos and Don’ts, by Marianna Psaradellis…
Recent Publications.
The current and back issues of The Monachus Guardian are also available from the Monk Seal Library http://www.monachus-guardian.org/library.htm.