Endangered Monk Seals to Have Critical Habitat on Main Hawaiian Islands

A volunteer stakes off a wide area around her with yellow tape to keep curious tourists from approaching too close. He says this same seal was spotted miles away on another Oahu beach several days ago.

The half-ton marine mammal is one of only about 1,200 individuals still alive today. But new habitat protections that the federal government will declare Friday could bring endangered Hawaiian monk seals back from the brink.

Monk seals on a remote beach on the north shore of Kauai, one of the main Hawaiian islands. (Photo by Kaiana)

NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service will designate critical habitat for endangered Hawaiian monk seals in the main Hawaiian Islands and expand criticial habitat that already exists in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

The designation, to be published in Friday's Federal Register, comes in response to a petition filed by three nonprofit organizations - the Center for Biological Diversity, KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance, and Ocean Conservancy.

"What happens in the coming few years will determine the survival of this species," says Marti Townsend, program director of KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance, based in Honolulu. "We cannot afford the extinction of a creature so sacred in Hawaiian culture and endemic to these islands. And we cannot expect to save the seals without meaningfully protecting critical habitat."

According to the government's finding, protection of beach habitat that supports resting, birthing, and raising pups and marine habitat for foraging is essential for the conservation of the monk seals.

The monk seal now has critical habitat only in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, a 1,400 mile long chain of small islands and atolls northwest of the main islands that are protected as the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

Regardless of the national monument, declared in June 2006, monk seals in the northwestern islands are dying of starvation and monk seal populations are falling rapidly. Seal pups there have a one-in-five chance of surviving to adulthood. Pups and adult monk seals alike become entangled and drown in abandoned fishing gear, are eaten by sharks, and fall victim to disease.

"Hawaiian monk seals are teetering on the edge of extinction in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and the forces are against them, with rising sea levels flooding their beaches, derelict fishing gear entangling them, and foraging grounds running dry," said Miyoko Sakashita of the Center for Biological Diversity.

"Today's decision to expand critical habitat protection to the main Hawaiian Islands is essential to allow monk seals a chance for recovery."

By contrast, monk seals in the main Hawaiian Islands are in better condition and are giving birth to healthy pups. Hawaiian monk seals are present on each of the main islands, and their numbers are slowly increasing.

The main islands provide better monk seal foraging conditions because there are fewer seals and less competition for prey. The conservation groups point out that fishermen have nothing to fear from increasing numbers of monk seals because the seals prefer to eat small eels, wrasses and other prey not commonly sought by fishermen.

Beach habitat is essential for the birth and rearing of monk seal offspring, the groups say in their petition. Monk seals haul out onto shore, usually on sandy beaches to give birth. Then the females spend six weeks nursing the pups onshore and using shallow near shore waters before returning to the water to forage.

Hawaiian monk seal (Photo courtesy NOAA)

Monk seals tend to be loyal to haulout areas, and the same seals are observed returning to the same beaches each year. For this reason, critical habitat must include areas on the Main Hawaiian Islands that are known to be used by monk seals.

The conservationists say that designating critical habitat in the main islands will provide a refuge for monk seals because important beaches where seal pups are born and raised have been lost due to sea-level rise and erosion.

"The steep decline of monk seals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands is a reminder to us all of the fragile nature of life. We applaud the National Marine Fisheries Service for this positive step forward in recognizing the need for expanded critical habitat in both the Northwestern and Main Hawaiian Islands, as it will give this species a fighting chance" said Vicki Cornish, wildlife policy director at Ocean Conservancy.

"When we protect critical habitat for monk seals, we are also protecting the larger ocean ecosystem on which we all depend," she said.

Critical habitat protection does not close areas, but it limits federal government activities that could harm monk seals or their habitat. Any federal activities that may affect the critical habitat must undergo review to ensure that those activities will not destroy or adversely modify the seal's critical habitat.

In passing the Endangered Species Act, Congress emphasized the importance of critical habitat, stating that "the ultimate effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act will depend on the designation of critical habitat," the conservationists point out.

Recent studies have shown that species with critical habitat are twice as likely to recover as species without it.

Next, the National Marine Fisheries Service will propose specific revisions to the Hawaiian monk seal's critical habitat and solicit public comments.

Click here for more information about critical habitat, what it means, and a copy of the original petition.

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