Monk Seal Foundation Video 1
The Monk Seal Foundation, based on Maui, has launched a new educational series. For the next 12 months they will be releasing one video a month highlighting information about the Hawaiian Monk Seal (Monachus schauinslandi) and how people can get involved with helping in the recovery process. Their goal is to preserve the monk seals for current and future generations to come.
Q: What should I do if I see a Hawaiian Monk Seal?
A: There is also a statewide network of dedicated response teams which actively work to protect monk seals which have hauled out on beaches and rocks. The best thing you can do is to leave the seal undisturbed and call the appropriate seal sighting hotline:
Oahu: (808) 220-7802
Kauai: (808) 651-7668
Molokai: (808) 553-5555
Maui & Lanai: (808) 292-2372
East Hawaii (Big Island): (808) 756-5961
West Hawaii (Big Island): (808) 987-0765
Monk Seal Foundation
The Monk Seal Foundation is a Maui based non profit dedicated to the preservation of the critically endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal. Their mission is to provide support for the protection of Read more
Hawaiian Monk Seal KE18
The Hawaiian Monk Seal, known as KE18, will have a temporary home at Waikiki Aquarium. 400-pound KE18 became a concern in 2010, when Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program workers saw him bully Read more
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.”
