LIHU‘E — A critically endangered juvenile female Hawaiian monk seal was found dead at Glass Beach near ‘Ele‘ele and Port Allen on May 6, but the cause of death has not been determined, said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Hawaiian
LIHU‘E — A critically endangered juvenile female Hawaiian monk seal was found dead at Glass Beach near ‘Ele‘ele and Port Allen on May 6, but the cause of death has not been determined, said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Hawaiian Monk Seal Recovery Coordinator Jeff Walters.
A necropsy was performed and results are still pending, said NOAA’s Marine Mammal Response Coordinator David Schofield. With tissue samples sent “throughout the country” it could take “several weeks to several months” to ascertain what happened to her, Schofield said.
Temporarily tagged with the number 366, the one-to-two-year old female was likely born on Ni‘ihau and swam to the island, although that is “pure speculation,” Walters said.
Only pups born on the Main Hawaiian Islands don tags on their flippers — something the monk seal lacked after she was discovered around the southern portion of the island in recent months.
Whatever the cause of death, it will make a “significant impact to the reproductive future” of endangered monk seals in the Main Hawaiian Islands, he said.
“It’s sad whenever we lose a seal under any circumstances, but to lose a juvenile female, with her future breeding potential, is especially tragic,” said Kaua‘i Monk Seal Watch Program Projects Coordinator Timothy Robinson.
Less than 1,100 Hawaiian monk seals are estimated to exist throughout the islands, Walters said. While the population on the Main Hawaiian Islands is “relatively small,” around 150, this is actually a “real increase” in numbers.
More than 20 seal pups were born in 2009 alone, he said. “That’s a good thing.”
However, the seals which call the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands home are estimated to have a population of about 950, but “those seals die at a very high rate,” Walters said.
Only one in five survive to two years of age, he said.
The ecosystem has been changing and evidence suggests the seals are starving to death because they are likely competing with other predators for food, Walters said.
While there is no “clear connection” for the untimely causes of their deaths, critter cams placed on the backs of some adult seals suggest predators like sharks and competitors like ulua are “stealing their fish,” he said. And, “young seals are not as skilled hunters.”
“The weaned baby and juvenile seals are very vulnerable and inexperienced as they learn to feed themselves, avoid predator sharks and dangers new to them, like nets and boats,” said Dr. Mimi Olry, Kaua‘i Monk Seal response coordinator for the state Department of Land & Natural Resource’s Division of Aquatic Resources.
“These young seals are in their greatest growth stage, and must forage well enough to survive … thus they are most often the ones that get injured, accidentally hooked or drown in nets as they struggle to find food.”
Nevertheless, “the idea is to have a healthy ecosystem” with all animals coexisting in balance, Walters said.
Hawaiian monk seals are a part of the “web of life,” and it is always “sad when we lose them,” said cultural practitioner kumu Sabra Kauka, who conducted a memorial ceremony for the seal last week.
“While Hawaiian monk seals do not play a significant historical role in Hawaiian culture, they are an-almost-prehistoric species endemic to the Hawaiian archipelago,” Robinson said. “More importantly, they’re a bellwether species, sitting near the top of the food chain, and their decline indicates problems within our marine ecosystem.”
