PO’IPU- What happens when you combine an endangered species habitat and a large-scale surfing festival on one beach? That’s something that federal biologists and volunteers who have been monitoring the newly born Hawaiian monk seal pup on Po’ipu Beach Park
PO’IPU- What happens when you combine an endangered species habitat and a
large-scale surfing festival on one beach?
That’s something that federal
biologists and volunteers who have been monitoring the newly born Hawaiian monk
seal pup on Po’ipu Beach Park would rather not find out.
But in less than
two weeks, the Koloa Plantation Days Ocean Festival will bring 500 canoers,
swimmers, surfers and an estimated crowd of 1,500 to the park.
“Noise,
lights, people- that all can strain the relationship or cause the animal to
move out of the area to another, more hazardous area,” said Bradley Ryon, a
member of National Marine Fisheries Service’s Hawaiian Monk Seal
Program.
Curt Smith, an organizer of the festival, said he’s been working
with the fisheries service on a plan so that both man and monk seal can coexist
peacefully during the big to-do.
“We came up with a compromise where,
depending on where the seal ends up, we’ll go to the other side,” he said.
So far, the pup and its mother have stayed mostly in the small, sheltered
pool to the east side of the beach, which is divided by a small spit of sand.
That side, where the pup was born two weeks ago, is ideal for it to nurse,
play and grow, biologists said.
“That beach is extra safe in the kiddie
pool, it’s safe from sharks and protected by the surf,” Ryon said.
To the
west, toward the Waiohai Hotel, the beach becomes narrower and more
exposed.
Biologists and volunteers put an orange barrier across the spit
so that the seals wouldn’t swim to the other side during high tide.
They
are fearful that too much human interference will cause the mother to bolt,
leaving the pup on its own. At first, the fisheries service asked the
organizers of the Ocean Festival to postpone the event, which is scheduled for
the Saturday and Sunday of July 29-30.
“If it is not postponed, the extra
traffic poses potential problems, including the mom-pup separation which could
lead to the death of the animal,” Ryon said.
But putting off the major
yearly event was one thing organizers didn’t want to do.
“It’s not
something where we just can pick up and go,” Smith said, adding that the Ocean
Festival is an integral part of the Koloa Plantation Days Celebration going on
that week.
He said that last year they were able to send 30 kids from
Kaua’i to the state surfing championships.
“It’s all non-profit. All the
money goes to the kids,” he said.
While they weren’t willing to move the
time, the festival organizers did agree to move the main tent where the awards
banquet will take place from the beach area to behind the dirt parking lot,
Smith said.
This still may not be enough to shelter the pup from the noise,
said Barbara Frazier, volunteer coordinator of the Kaua’i Monk Seal Watch
Program. Its mother “will abandon the baby if there’s too much ruckus- that’s
what we are worried about happening in two weeks,” Frazier said.
“This
band and everything, and the people—what if it’s too much?” she
added.
She said volunteers are prepared to mobilize if the event gets too
rowdy.
“We’ll be there if we need to calm the crowds to be a little
quieter,” she said.
Frazier said the volunteers may hand out brochures
about the monk seal to educate the festival-goers.
“As long as the public
is aware of the enormity of the situation,” she said.
The first six weeks
of the pup’s life are the most dangerous, since it can’t feed itself. Over this
period, the pup will gain over 100 pounds, while the mother will lose about 200
pounds as it nurses. After the pup is weaned, the mother will leave it to fend
for itself.
The mother, Frazier said, has been allowing its pup to roam
farther out each day, causing the volunteers and fisheries service personnel to
widen the perimeter of fencing around the creatures.
Federal biologists
have also closed Po’ipu Bay o swimmers and snorkelers. Swimming is still
permitted on the Waiohai side of the beach. Dogs, however, have been banned
from the beach.
Volunteers—about half residents and half tourists—are
signing on to watch the seals and keep the curiosity seekers from getting too
close, Frazier said.
“So far we are doing fine. But if we keep extending
the beach back and people keep coming, then we might have to add more
volunteers,” she said.
The beach has been packed solid, Frazier said. Aside
from the human visitors, a male monk seal made quite a commotion when it came
into the bay Friday and attempted to breed unsuccessfully with the mother.
“As soon as a seal beaches itself, it’s just like, shwoom! I’m not
exaggerating, there’ll be 50 to 100 people on top of the seal,” she
said.
Another problem that is persisting, volunteers say, is the constant
barrage of night-time picture snapping.
“With all the flashes, it looked
like a bunch of paparazzi,” said one volunteer. Excessive flashes once caused
the mother to stop feeding and head for the water, Ryon said.
There are
upward of 1,400 Hawaiian monk seals left in the Hawaiian Islands, and right now
the population is stable. Most of the seals live in the remote Northwestern
Hawaiian Islands, while upward of 12 live on Kaua’i.
Not many of those get
as close to humans as this pup and its mother, who chose one of the most
popular beaches in Hawai’i to give birth. That’s humanity’s chance to prove its
ability at stewardship, Frazier said.
“We’re providing a loving, sacred
surrounding for this little animal, and people are just thrilled to death to do
that,” she said.
Those who are interested in volunteering can call
335-0941.
Deputy editor Brandon Sprague can be reached at 245-3681 (ext.
226) or bsprague@pulitzer.net