Monk seal decline worries researchers

Numbers of endangered Hawaiian monk seals are on the decline again, and federal and state researchers want to know why.

They suspect poor juvenile health is part of the reason.

“They continue to decline, they stabilized, and in the last four to five years they declined again, mainly due to poor juvenile survival,” said Shawn C. Farry, Kaua‘i marine conservation coordinator with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Aquatic Resources.

Kauaians wanting to know more about endangered and federally protected Hawaiian monk seals and their future will get their chance at a public meeting Monday, Feb. 16, at 6:30 p.m. at the Lihu‘e Public Library.

Officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries will lead the meeting.

Bud Antonelis, chief of NOAA Fisheries Pacific Island Science Center, and Dr. Bob Braun, a veterinarian and a pathologist with marine-mammal expertise, will provide the latest information on the seals and explain what efforts have been made to help with the recovery of the seal.

The seals once numbered roughly 300 in the 1950s. Today, there are fewer than 1,300 seals, down from 1,500 a decade ago, according to Farry.

A “core group” of 20 seals live off Kaua‘i’s waters, although 30 individual seals were seen last year, Farry said.

Other topics to be discussed at the meeting will be a new health and satellite-telemetry study that will be launched in the main Hawaiian Islands.

The study and tracking-system program were previously launched in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands because that is where the bulk of the 1,300 seals live, Farry said.

“Prior to the study and tag out (tagging of the seals for the satellite-tracking project), we want a public meeting to let the public know about the study on Kaua‘i,” Farry said.

“The meeting is a way for people to talk about seals, not only about the study on Kaua‘i, but also to have the heads of programs from O‘ahu come over here to talk about the current status of the seals on O‘ahu,” he said.

Farry said the seal population continues to decline in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, where the bulk of the species lives.

Seals living off the main, populated Hawaiian Islands also are in better condition than their counterparts in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, possibly due to food availability, Farry said.

Researchers have found, though, that the size of pups born in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and those born in waters off the inhabited Hawaiian Islands are the same.

But the ones who are born off the inhabited islands grow bigger because they have had the benefit of better nursing conditions, Farry said.

“During the 35 to 40 days they (pups which live off the inhabited islands) are able to get much larger, which indicates the mothers are in better condition,” (possibly the result of having access to better food sources), Farry said.

Pups born and nursed off the main Hawaiian Islands are “larger than 95 percent of the pups born in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands,” Farry said.

Studies on the foraging areas and habitats of the seals may also help explain why the seal population is declining in Hawai‘i, Farry said. Pups (representing the next generation of seals) in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands have struggled, Farry said.

“Seals are bottom-foragers. Satellite tracking will help us find out where the seals are going and areas they are using,” he said.

The satellite-tracking system, using transmitters attached to the seals, also will help determine whether the seals are depleting certain fish species, as some Hawai‘i fishermen contend, Farry said.

A documentary on Hawaiian monk seals will be shown on the National Geographic Channel Friday, Feb. 20, Farry said.

Sightings of seals can be reported to Farry at 651-7668.

Staff Writer Lester Chang may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net.