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.
Ocean Health
The world’s oceans are under siege from pollution, overfishing, and other man-made problems all at once, and their health is declining much faster than originally thought. Troubles from global warming, dead zones from farm run-off, an increase in acidity from too much carbon dioxide, habitat destruction, melting sea ice, along with overfishing are worse when they combine with each other all at once.
At an international meeting of marine scientists was designed to consider the cumulative impact of multiple stressors on the ocean. The 27 participants from 18 organizations in 6 countries produced a grave assessment of current threats: that the world’s ocean is at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history.
Case Study 1 In Brief: Most, if not all, of the five global mass extinctions in Earth’s history carry the fingerprints of the main symptoms of global carbon perturbations (global warming, ocean acidification and anoxia or lack of oxygen). It is these three factors which are present in the ocean today. In fact, the current carbon perturbation is unprecedented in the Earth’s history because of the high rate and speed of change. Acidification is occurring faster than in the past 55 million years, and with the added man-made stressors of overfishing and pollution, undermining ocean resilience.
Case Study 2 In Brief: What the multi-disciplinary approach of the IPSO workshop made clear for the first time was the multiple threats reefs are facing, that are now acting together to have a greater impact than if they were occurring on their own. This suggests that existing scientific projections of how coral reefs will respond to global warming have been highly conservative and must now be modified.
Case Study 3 In Brief: Continued releases and slow breakdown rates mean that legacy chemical pollution remains a major concern. However, concerns have been raised recently over a wide range of novel chemicals now being found in marine ecosystems or suspected to be harmful to marine life. Some of these chemicals have been located recently in the Canadian Arctic seas, and some are known to be endocrine disrupters or can damage immune systems. Marine litter and plastics are also of major concern, and there is evidence that certain plastics can transport other harmful chemicals in the marine environment.
Case Study 4 In Brief: Scientists agreed that overfishing is exerting an intolerable pressure on ecosystems already under attack by the effects of acidification and warming, and other largely man-made ocean problems. A recent study showed that 63% of the assessed fish stocks worldwide are over-exploited or depleted and over half of them require further reduction of fishing, in order to recover.
Some of the changes affecting the world’s seas – all of which have been warned about individually in the past – are happening faster than the worst case scenarios that were predicted just a few years ago.
Protecting Coral Species From Extinction
Coral reefs around the world are facing extinction due to overfishing, pollution, and the overarching threats of global warming and ocean acidification. Corals in U.S. waters ranging from Florida and Hawaii to American territories in the Caribbean and Pacific, have all declined by more than 30 percent over a 30-year period. The U.S. government pledged to determine by April 2012, whether Endangered Species Act protections are needed for 83 species of coral.
Nine corals in Hawaii waters being considered for endangered species protection are: Fuzzy Table Coral (Acropora paniculata), Irregular Rice Coral or Hawaiian Reef Coral (Montipora dilatata), Blue Rice Coral (Montipora flabellata), Sandpaper Rice Coral, Spreading Coral or Ringed Rice Coral (Montipora patula), (Leptoseris incrustans), (Porites pukoensis), Agassiz’s Coral (Cyphastrea agassizi), Ocellated Coral (Cyphastrea ocellina), and Stellar Coral (Psammocora stellata).
Blue rice coral (Montipora flabellata), only found in Hawaii, blue rice coral is uncommon and thrives in shallow reefs pounded by waves. Although this coral is usually flat and sheetlike, on one reef in Molokai it grows branches with an opening at the tip that provides a home to small shrimp. Blue rice coral is vulnerable to bleaching, habitat degradation, and disease.
Hawaiian reef coral (Montipora dilatata) remains in fewer than five locations. It has the unfortunate trait of being among the first corals to bleach during increased water temperatures, and the slowest to recover. It has experienced significant climate-related population fluctuations over the last 20 years, and its small distribution makes it extremely vulnerable to extinction.
Scientists warn that by mid-century, coral reefs are likely to be the first worldwide ecosystem to collapse due to carbon dioxide pollution, which causes both global warming and ocean acidification. Warm water temperatures in 2010 marked the second-most deadly year on record for corals due to bleaching – a process by which they expel the colorful algae needed for their survival. Many corals die or succumb to disease after bleaching. An additional threat to coral reefs is ocean acidification, caused by the ocean’s absorption of CO2. The agreement is an important step toward legal protections for some of the most vulnerable coral reefs.
Hawaiian Reef Fish and Emperor Angelfish
Emperor Angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator) are Hawaiian reef fish that can grow to 15 inches in length. As with many Angelfish, Emperor juveniles are very different in appearance from their adults. Prior to 1933, young emperors were considered a separate species because of the wide variation in range of color and pattern in small to large specimens.
Juvenile Emperor Angelfish are dark blue with concentric electric blue and white rings. Adults have horizontal yellow and blue stripes, white snout with black around the eyes. It takes about 24 to 30 months for an Emperor Angelfish to acquire its adult coloring. They can be easily distinguished by the presence in angelfishes of a strong opercular spine.
Juveniles are encountered under ledges, or in holes of outer lagoon patch reefs or semi-protected areas of exposed channels and outer reef flats. Subadults move to reef front holes and surge channels. Large adults inhabit ledges and caves in areas of rich coral growth on clear lagoon, channel, or seaward reefs.
Endangered Hawaiian Waterbirds Conservation
The Hawaiian Common Moorhen, Hawaiian Coot, and Hawaiian Black-necked Stilt have been listed under the Endangered Species Act for over 40 years, but these three endemic and endangered Hawaiian waterbirds are showing increasing populations. The three birds all reside exclusively in Hawai’i in low elevation wetlands. Their populations have been impacted by wetland loss, invasive plants, and introduced predators such as rats, cats, dogs, mongoose, and bull frogs. A study identified larger population increases on islands where wetlands were being protected (Oah’u and Kaua’i) and little or no population increases on islands containing few wetlands and/or less protection (Hawai’i and Maui).
The Hawaiian Coot (‘Alae Ke‘oke‘o) continues to be found on many of the larger islands and with a population estimate of up to 5,000, it is the most abundant of the three birds but it also has the most variable populations, year to year. Hunting depleted populations in the early 20th Century. It is 15 inches with a white bill topped by a frontal shield which is usually white, but can vary from bluish white to yellow to dark blood red. They have white undertail feathers that are seen when swimming or during their courtship displays.
The Hawaiian Black-necked Stilt (Ae’o) is found on Hawai’i, Kaua’i, Maui, Moloka’i, O’ahu, and Ni’ihau, and more recently, on Lana’i. Some reports indicate the bird was common in some locations in the late 1800s but by 1900 had become scarcer. By 1940, only 200 were believed to exist. The most recent survey estimates a population of about 1,500 birds. It is a slender wading bird that grows up to 15 inches in length, with a black back and white forehead, and white below; the female has a tinge of brown on its back. It has very long pink legs and a long black bill.
The Hawaiian Common Moorhen (‘Alae ‘Ula) population is the smallest of the three, numbering as few as 30 in 1970. The total current population is estimated to be in the low 100s. The bird historically inhabited all of the larger islands, but now inhabits only O’ahu and Kaua’i. The 13-inch-long moorhen is dark gray with a black head and neck, and white feathers on its flanks and on its undertail feathers. It has a very distinctive red frontal shield above its yellow-tipped bill. Its legs and feet are greenish.
Management actions are being implemented at places like Hanawi Natural Area Reserve on Maui, and Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge on the island of Hawai’i. Given the long-term trend in the Hawaiian Islands of losing wetland habitat from unprotected areas, protected refuges and conservation easements on private land continue to be critically important to recovering the islands’ endangered waterbirds.
Targeting Invasive Plants in Hawaii
The Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i is using improved imaging and new software technologies to map, locate, and eliminate invasive plant species before they have a chance to threaten Hawaii’s delicate watersheds. The extremely high resolution images are made possible with better cameras that allow more area to be filmed from higher altitudes. New image resolution of up to one centimeter per pixel allows analysts to identify and map much of the younger small-leafed plants.
The work has already started with mapping for the removal of the Australian tree fern, a highly invasive plant that grows an average 30-feet high and 15-feet wide and displaces a lot of native trees. The fern began appearing in Hawai‘i in the 1970s and began spreading slowly over a 15-year period. During the last decade, the plant presented the potential to alter the Alaka‘i watershed and dominate the canopy of vegetation in the watershed.
The team will conduct aerial mapping to locate more ferns and eliminate them before they spread throughout the watershed. They can pick out plants in such detail that they can identify which are the bad ones to eliminate. After another year of mapping, they will remove the plants with low-volume herbicides on more than 5,000 Australian tree fern plants in Kauai’s forests. The herbicide technology was created by loading a compressed air gun with herbicide-filled paintballs that can target specific plants without overspraying and damaging surrounding vegetation.
The team will remap in three years to look for grow-back. In the meantime, the technology will expand to search out a long list of other small-leafed weed species spanning 20,000 acres of forest land across the state Hawai‘i, including the miconia and the strawberry guava. They are developing critical technologies with the potential to revolutionize forest conservation in Hawai‘i. These forests supply the fresh, clean water on which Hawai‘i’s people depend and are biological treasures vital to preserving the islands’ natural and cultural heritage.
