Hawaiian Monk Seal Conservation

The Hawaiian Monk Seal is one of the rarest marine mammals in the world, and was listed as an endangered species in 1976 under the Federal Endangered Species Act. Although some skeletal structures of these marine animals haven’t changed for 15 million years, their fragile habitat has, and it is continuing to do so. There are only an estimated 1,100 monk seals in the Hawaiian Islands, and with the population declining at a rate of 4 percent annually, biologists predict their numbers will dip below 1,000 in the next three to four years.

NOAA biologists counted 119 seal pups born in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in 2009, compared with 138 in 2008. Monk seal sightings are becoming more frequent in the main Hawaiian Islands, where 15 births were recorded. In 2009, six pup births were reported on Moloka’i, five on Kaua’i, two on O’ahu, and two on Maui. But, the 2009 breeding season produced the fewest pups in at least 10 years making the Hawaiian Monk Seal one of the world’s rarest species.

A small number of monk seals live along the main Hawaiian Islands, but most live in Papahānaumokuākea which offers flat, open, protected and empty beaches that mother seals need in order to bear and raise their pups. Historically, these shores have not always been so empty. In the 1800s, the islands were a frequent destination for seal hunters, feather hunters, guano miners, and even shipwrecked sailors, who were killing monk seals in large numbers for their pelts, for their oil, and for food. Later, World War II military activities brought construction and thousands of people to some of the islands causing a steady decline in the population in the years to come. The Endangered Species Act was passed in 1976, and the monk seals were officially protected. Since then, intense conservation efforts stabilized the population from 1993 until 2000, when their numbers began decreasing again. Today, even though the islands are protected, scientists believe that the effects of human activity along these fragile coastlines are still taking their toll.