Posts

Posted on

Feds probing deaths of 2 monk seals

Press Watch — Honolulu Advertiser, June 18, 2009

Pregnant female shot in May; young male victim of ‘foul play’ in April

LIHU’E, Kaua’i — Federal officers are investigating the deliberate killings of two endangered Hawaiian monk seals on Kaua’i, and recently scoured a white pickup truck in search of a rifle believed to have been used to kill the monk seal known as RK06.

The officers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s law enforcement branch didn’t find a weapon in the June 9 search, documents in federal court in Honolulu indicate. But NOAA confirmed for the first time yesterday that RK06 was shot to death. […]

Full article

Posted on

Memorial scheduled for monk seals shot to death on Kauai

Press Watch — Honolulu Advertiser, June 17, 2009

A memorial ceremony for two Hawaiian monk seals who were shot to death earlier this year will be held tomorrow at Poipu Beach Park on Kauai.

The event — which starts at 9:30 a.m. — is being coordinated by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Fisheries Division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Hawaiian Monk Seal Conservation Hui.

Kumu Sabra Kauka, a native practitioner from Kauai, will preside over the ceremony, in which the ashes of the seals will be released.

The seals — a 5-year-old male and a female estimated to be in her mid-teens — were shot and killed in April and May.

Full article

Posted on

Monk seal sighting at Giglio Island

by Luigi Bundone and Luigi Guarrera, Gruppo Foca Monaca
Giglio Island, Italy, 7 June 2009 (Photo Marco Prete)
Giglio Island, Italy, 7 June 2009 (Photo Marco Prete)

Last Sunday 7 June, in the waters of Giglio Island, Tuscan Archipelago, another individual was sighted not far from the tower of Giglio Campese. The encounter lasted for about two hours, thanks in part to the considerate attitude shown by people present during the event. Franca Zanichelli, the Director of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago, released a short interview to the Italian press agency ANSA: “I am really enthusiastic, we have immediately verified the sighting together with GFM Italia, a group we cooperate with since a long time. In fact I am not so much surprised by the news: I am pretty aware that, even if these animals are rare, they still live in our sea. And the behaviour of the observers was very good, they did not disturb the seal, receiving as a perfect gift in exchange an experience that would represent an impossible dream for many naturalists”.

Continue reading “Monk seal sighting at Giglio Island”

Posted on

Endangered monk seals to have Critical Habitat on Main Hawaiian Islands

Press Watch — Environment News Service, June 11, 2009

A Hawaiian monk seal pulls out of the ocean and flops down at one end of Sandy Beach, on Oahu’s southeast shore, far from the surfers at the other end. […]

The half-ton marine mammal is one of only about 1,200 individuals still alive today. But new habitat protections that the federal government will declare Friday could bring endangered Hawaiian monk seals back from the brink.

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service will designate critical habitat for endangered Hawaiian monk seals in the main Hawaiian Islands and expand criticial habitat that already exists in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

Continue reading “Endangered monk seals to have Critical Habitat on Main Hawaiian Islands”

Posted on

Rare monk seal spotted

Press watch — ANSA, June 9, 2009

Endangered species disappeared from Italy 20 years ago

(ANSA) – Grosseto, June 9 – An extremely rare example of a Mediterranean monk seal, believed to be the world’s most endangered pinniped, has been spotted off the Tuscan island of Giglio. […]

”It showed off for about two hours, surfacing and diving, coming and going,” said Marco Prete, who was among tourists sunbathing on rocks when the seal appeared and managed to take some shots with his camera.

”Luckily there were only a few of us there to see it, and nobody decided to jump in the water so it could enjoy itself undisturbed just a few metres from the rocks,” he told the local Giglio News.

Continue reading “Rare monk seal spotted”

Posted on

Ocean trash problem ‘far from being solved,’ U.N. says

Press Watch — CNN, June 8, 2009

The world’s oceans are full of trash, causing “tremendous” negative impacts on coastal life and ecology, according to a U.N. report released Monday.

The oceans will continue to fill up with junk discarded from cities and boats without urgent action to address this buildup of marine debris, the United Nations Environment Programme says in a report titled “Marine Litter: A Global Challenge.”

Current efforts to address the problem are not working, and the issue is “far from being solved,” the report says. […]

The ocean litter is a problem for coastal communities, which rely on clean beaches for tourism dollars and to boost quality of life for their residents, the report says. Ocean trash also affects marine life and degrades human health.

Sea turtles, for example, think plastic grocery bags are jellyfish when the bags are floating in the ocean. An untold number of the turtles and other creatures, such as Hawaii’s endangered monk seal, swallow the bags and suffocate, drown or starve, said Holly Bamford, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s marine debris program.

Full article