On 26 May 2011, a Mediterranean monk seal mother and her pup visited the harbour of Aegiali, on the Cycaldic island of Amorgos. “They stayed there for around three hours,” reports Amorgos Island Magazine, were extremely friendly and played with people on Aegiali Beach.”
Desperate times, desperate measures…
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
Hawaiian monk seal scoping report available
NOAA announcement, 1 February 2011
The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Pacific Islands Regional Office (PIRO) has published the Scoping Summary Report for the Hawaiian Monk Seal Recovery Actions PEIS, which presents a public record and summary of the scoping activities that occurred from October 1, 2010 through November 30, 2010. The report can be viewed online.
In the coming months, the Hawaiian Monk Seal Recovery Actions Draft PEIS will be released and a 60-day public comment period will be announced.
Musings: Trails and Seals
Media Watch, Joan Conrow, KauaiEclectic, 26 January 2011
[…] After swimming at the northern end of the beach, I was heading back when I spotted four men and two women mugging an endangered Hawaiian monk seal that I’d previously seen sleeping peacefully among the rocks. The seal’s face was covered with a net, but its eyes met mine and they conveyed terror, which left me with a sickeningly disturbed feeling that still lingers.
Although signs erected around a snoozing seal further down the beach warned the public to stay away, this group was allowed to conduct the equivalent of an alien abduction— taking blood and fat samples, swabbing all its orifices and gluing a radio transmitter onto its back — because they are federal scientists striving to protect the seal, or at least help us humans figure out how to do so — provided it doesn’t cause our species too much inconvenience.
While I understand the NOAA and NMFS folks have the very best intentions — which, as well know, also pave the proverbial road to hell — if you check out the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for studying the dwindling seal population, you really have to wonder just how much trauma will be inflicted upon these native marine mammals in an effort to “recover” them. […]
Full Story: KauaiEclectic
Police intervene to help Badem
Orphaned Mediterranean monk seal Badem, released from summer captivity in November by her carers, SAD-AFAG, was soon sighted around the Datça Peninsula, according to various Turkish press reports. Although SAD-AFAG has stressed, and stressed again, the importance of avoiding contact with the rescued seal in order to help Badem lose her attachment to humans, curious onlookers continue to disturb and harass the animal.
In the latest case, police intervened to cordon off a boat on which Badem was resting, so that she could catch a few hours’ sleep.
Full Story and Gallery: Fok Badem polis yardımıyla dinlenebildi! CNN Türk.
A Privilege to See
Media Watch, The National Parks of the Pacific Region, 4 December 2010
This video, a joint project of various agencies/organizations including NOAA, features members of Kauai’s Native Hawaiian community sharing their perspectives on the Hawaiian monk seal.