Hawaiian Monk Seal Ho‘ailona Returns
Hawaiian Monk Seal Ho‘ailona moved into his new home at the Waikiki Aquarium, where he will become an ambassador for the critically endangered species. After his mother abandoned him, he was found on a Kauai beach trying to suckle a rock. Known at that time as KP2, humans raised him until he was old enough to be released into the wild, and then set him free on Moloka‘i.
There, the seal gravitated to people and soon became famous for charming and playing with swimmers. But authorities had to take him away when he started holding people underwater. His eyesight was found to be poor, and he spent the past two years at a long-term care facility in California. The seal’s vision is only 20 to 30 percent of normal strength, but his hearing is good, and he uses this and sensors on his whiskers to get around. Veterinarians who examined Ho’ailona in California said the risks of operating on his eyes posed a greater risk than the inconvenience he is experiencing from his condition.
Hawaiian Monk Seals are a critically endangered species, and with only an estimated 1,100 seals left in existence, scientists say it’s everyone’s responsibility to ensure their survival. “I’m hoping that now that he’s back in Hawaii, we’re going to be able to bring the Molokai kids back into the discussions so that they can continue to serve as advocates for this highly endangered species,” said a Molokai resident.
Hawaiian Monk Seal Critical Habitat
Found only in the Hawaiian Islands, Hawaiian Monk Seals belong to one of the most ancient living groups of seals. Today their numbers hover at slightly over a thousand individuals, and continue to decline at a rate of 4% per year. Threats to their survival include fishing practices that allow seals to become trapped and drown in underwater nets, erosion of beaches where monk seals raise their young, exposure to diseases that occurs as a result of interaction with people, and climate change that is disrupting marine ecosystems and causing sea levels to rise and flood the seals’ breeding grounds.
Hawaiian Monk Seals (Monachus schauinslandi) are protected under the Endangered Species Act, but for years environmental groups argued the federal government wasn’t doing enough to halt and reverse their decline. In 2000, the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups filed a lawsuit to stop fishing activities that threatened to starve Hawaiian Monk Seals by reducing their food supply. This was the start of a series of legal fights that eventually resulted in a new critical habitat designation.
The 11,000 square miles now protected for Hawaiian Monk Seal recovery include shoreline and near-shore waters on all of the eight major Hawaiian Islands, as well as the tiny and mostly uninhabited islands in northwestern Hawaii. These northwestern islands are where the majority of Hawaiian Monk Seals currently live. However smaller monk seal populations have become established and are growing on the larger islands, making the critical habitat designations there particularly significant.
Hawaiian Monk Seals are wide ranging pinnipeds that require both marine and land habitats for reproduction, rearing, foraging and resting. New habitat protections, including all of the Hawaiian Islands, are essential to bring endangered Hawaiian monk seals back from the brink of extinction. Critical habitat compels US federal agencies to consider the survival of this Hawaiian seal before they permit shoreline development – protecting our beaches and reefs not only for monk seals, but also for Hawaii’s paddlers, fishers, surfers and all people of these islands.
Hawaiian Monk Seal and Ciguatoxin
Hawaiian Monk Seals, whose population has dwindled to around 1100, are now exposed to another threat. Researchers from NOAA have discovered a potent and highly-debilitating toxin in the critically endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal. The dangerous toxin, called ciguatoxin, is produced by marine algae common on coral reefs, and accumulates in fish species that are consumed by humans.
The study was conducted by marine toxin experts at NOAA’s National Ocean Service in collaboration with veterinarians and ecologists at NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service. Monk seals were sampled throughout the Hawaiian Islands, including in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, and samples were analyzed for toxins.
The study reveals that Hawaiian Monk Seals (Monachus schauinslandi) are exposed to significant levels of these ciguatoxins. Ciguatera, the human disease caused by ciguatoxin, affects thousands of people every year worldwide and comes in the form of acute gastrointestinal and neurological illness with symptoms resembling chronic fatigue syndrome.
The threat could pose management challenges for this species that has been dwindling at four percent annually. “Based upon this study, we believe that ciguatoxin exposure is common in the monk seal population. This study is an important first step. However, we still need to understand more clearly how widespread exposure is and more importantly what role it may be playing in the decline of the species.”
Hawaiian Monk Seal and Threats
Hawaiian Monk Seals face a new threat from a pathogen in cat feces that is carried to the ocean in polluted runoff and sewage. Experts worry that the disease, toxoplasmosis, will derail efforts to restore this endangered species. Over the past ten years, the cat parasite has killed at least four monk seals in the main Hawaiian islands – two from Kauai, one from Oahu, one from Molokai, and perhaps more. In the past decade, toxoplasmosis has been regularly found in a wide range of marine mammals, including whales, dolphins, as well as seabirds, and the endangered Hawaiian crow.
No studies have been done in Hawaii, but in California, researchers have found that it infects sea otters mainly though runoff from urban areas. Flushing cat litter down the toilet is one pathway, since sewage treatment does not always kill the parasite’s hardy eggs, called oocysts. Studies have found that oocysts can live for at least two years in sea water.
Although domestic cats are considered the main source, feral cats in remote areas also transmit the disease. Nearly 40 percent of cats captured from the slopes of Mauna Kea, on the island of Hawaii, tested positive for toxoplasmosis. The state Division of Forestry and Wildlife estimates that 300,000 to 400,000 free-ranging cats live on Maui alone.
The Hawaiian Monk Seal (Monachus schauinslandi) is considered the most endangered pinniped in the United States. Their overall population is declining at a rate of about 4.5 percent a year. The good news is that in recent years, their numbers have been growing in the main Hawaiian islands. With only about 1,100 monk seals left in the wild, each death is very concerning, and now toxoplasmosis is one of the primary concerns. To raise public awareness about toxoplasmosis and cat feces, NOAA has begun talking with the Hawaii Humane Society, various interest groups, and the health department.
Hawaiian Monk Seal Track
Hawaiian Monk Seals have been fitted with small transmitters glued on their back to help scientists understand their behavior in the main Hawaiian islands. For the seals’ health and safety, it must be hauled out in a sandy spot safe for restraint. The seal cannot be young, pregnant, nursing, molting, or otherwise already stressed.
Once attached, these devices reveal their movements, how deep they dive, when they haul out on land, and how far they roam. The seals are monitored remotely until the transmitters are shed when seals molt. One seal, known as RO18, often travels back and forth between Oahu, Niihau, and Kauai where he has been spending time with an adult female (RK13). This video tracks his movements.
Hawaiian Monk Seal Recognition
National Wildlife Federation and American Girl are partnering to help raise awareness of endangered animals like the Hawaiian Monk Seal. Kanani Akina
American Girl encourages girls to dream, to grow, to aspire, to create, and to imagine through a wide range of engaging and insightful books. Through Kanani, girls will discover that everyone has something to share to make life better for other people and also wildlife. Kanani is a beautiful 18-inch doll featuring long, wavy medium-brown hair and hazel eyes, and an array of outfits, and accessories like a paddleboard set, a plush Hawaiian monk seal, a shave ice stand, and two books that tell her story.
The Hawaiian Monk Seal is one of the world’s most endangered species, with a current population of around 1,100 seals living solely in Hawaiian waters. With the purchase of every plush monk seal sold in 2011, American Girl is donating $1 (up to a maximum of $100,000) to NWF’s wildlife education programs. “There has never been an opportunity anywhere near this scale to develop widespread name recognition for this animal, and that can lead to awareness, knowledge and stewardship,” said the Kaua‘i Monk Seal Watch Program.
