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1994 translocation to the MHI of 21 aggressive males
that had been biting females (sometimes fatally) at
Laysan Island. The operation successfully rebalanced
the sex ratio at Laysan and ended the assaults, but it
was a public relations disaster. Walters argues that
NOAA bringing the males to the MHI did nothing to
change the population growth because no females were
included; however, his argument often falls on deaf ears.
NOAA scientist Charles Littnan includes in his public
presentations a denial of rumors that he transports
monk seals to the MHI at night in black helicopters.
Apart from the controversy surrounding the seals’
historical habitat, the fact is that for these seals to
survive they must coexist with humans in the MHI.
Because of the greater human presence, seals in the
MHI understandably face different problems from
those in the NWHI. The beaches on which they need
to sleep and raise their young are increasingly occupied
by humans, and not all are considerate to seals. Several
animals associated with human habitation endanger
seals either directly or indirectly. For example, dogs
are known to kill seals and drive them off of beaches,
and they also have the potential to transmit canine
distemper. Cats transmit toxoplasmosis through their
feces; five seals have already died from this parasite in
the MHI. Rats transmit leptospirosis, which has been
found in seal carcasses. Additionally, seals sometimes
drown in nets, are run over by boats and get hooked,
speared, shot, clubbed and pelted with rocks.
Unlike the issues the seals face in the NWHI, most
of the problems for monk seals in the MHI are ones
that can be solved if there is a will to do so. Even if
Hawaiian residents are divided in this regard, U.S.
law mandates full protection of marine mammals and
recovery efforts for endangered species.
The Hawaiian monk seal is the most critically
endangered marine mammal under sole U.S.
jurisdiction. On some days there
are more sea lions on Pier 39
in San Francisco than there are
Hawaiian monk seals in existence.
A NOAA analysis estimates that
nearly one-third of Hawaiian
monk seals are alive only because
of interventions by its personnel. The number of
interventions is directly related to the length of the field
seasons for the NOAA team in the NWHI, and that is
determined by the recovery budget. NOAA’s monk seal
recovery plan requests $7.5 million per year to conduct
activities necessary for population recovery, but actual
funding was only $2 million to $3 million per year from
2011 to 2014. By contrast, when Alaska’s population
of Steller sea lions dropped to 25,000, the government
allocated $40 million per year for recovery efforts,
perhaps due to varying degrees of political influence.
Increasingly, monk-seal management and recovery
activities in the MHI rely on assistance from unpaid
volunteers and nonprofit organizations. After budget
and staff cuts, NOAA manager David Schofield told
volunteers: “I used to ask you to do more with less.
Now I need you to do everything with nothing.” The
Monk Seal Foundation, which was founded in 2011,
manages networks of volunteers on two islands and
supports seal protection and education activities
statewide. In 2014 the Marine Mammal Center in
Sausalito, Calif., opened Ke Kai Ola, a hospital for
monk seals, on Hawaii Island. The small facility
treats injured, diseased and malnourished seals from
throughout the MHI and NWHI and then returns the
seals to their places of origin for release.
Volunteers and nongovernmental organizations are
helping to slow the seal’s march to extinction, but the
ultimate result will not change unless both the federal
government and the citizens of Hawaii choose another
destiny for this rare and remarkable species.
“Hawaiians were always taught to keep everything
in balance. Everything in the ocean was revered,”
Ritte said. “Today in Hawaii we haven’t managed our
ocean, and now there’s not enough for everybody. The
fishermen are angry about it, and the monk seals are
smart enough to take fish from their hooks right in
front of them. That’s why
they’re angry with the seal, but the
seal was here first. As a Hawaiian,
what I’m saying is whatever
happens to the monk seal, the
same thing’s going to happen to
the Hawaiians.”
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From left: A young
male shares a
resting spot with
a green sea turtle.
After its release by
NOAA scientists,
a seal heads back
toward the water
loaded with a
National Geographic
crittercam.
