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Headlines – News – Articles
13th February, 2012
Statement, NOAA Fisheries, 10 February 2012
 In 2010 and 2011 NOAA Fisheries staff began to observe a nine-year old monk seal, KE18, attacking newly weaned and juvenile seals at Kure Atoll in the NWHI; causing injuries including lacerations, scratches and puncture wounds on this critical component of the monk seal population. KE18 seriously injured 10 of the 13 pups and an additional three juveniles during the 2010 and 2011 field camps on Kure Atoll. When KE18 transited to Midway Atoll there were two unexplained deaths during his time there.
→ Continue reading NOAA removes “aggressive” monk seal from NWHI
5th February, 2012
Media Watch, Hawaii News Now, 4 February 2012
Marine mammal experts once considered KE-18 to be such a dangerous Hawaiian monk seal it appeared they had no choice but to euthanize him. Six months later KE-18 has been captured and is headed for life as a research subject and aquarium attraction.
KE-18 is known to have attacked at least 13 pups and juvenile seals at Kure and Midway Atolls. [...]
The plan is to move KE-18 to U.C. Santa Cruz in late February. It is the same facility where another Hawaiian monk seal, KP2, lived for two years before being brought back to Hawaii and a permanent home at the Waikiki Aquarium.
While in Santa Cruz, KE-18 will serve as a research subject. [More]
Source: Research & showbiz planned for aggressive monk seal, Hawaii News Now, 4 February 2012.
8th January, 2012
Media Watch, USA Today, 8 January 2012
No one knows who is killing the seals — a critically endangered species — or why.
But the deaths are coming as the federal government steps up its efforts to protect the seals, leading to simmering resentment among some fishermen who fear new regulations will trample upon their right to fish. The killings are also happening as the misguided notion spreads that the animals aren’t native to Hawaii and don’t belong here.
“It’s really serious. This attitude, this negative attitude toward the seals has overpowered the concern that this is a species that’s going to become extinct,” said Walter Ritte, a Molokai resident and longtime activist who has sounded an alarm about the killings. [More]
Source: Outbreak of endangered seal killings in Hawaii, USA Today, 8 January 2012.
30th December, 2011
Media Watch, Honolulu Civil Beat, 28 December 2011
A third monk seal was found dead on Molokai Wednesday and officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are working to determine the cause of death.
The discovery comes after news last week that NOAA is investigating the deaths of two other monk seals in which foul play is suspected. [...]
The monk seal deaths come at a time when tensions between local fishermen and NOAA have escalated as the agency considers expanding protections for the endangered species around the main Hawaiian islands. [More]
Source: Third monk seal found dead on Molokai, Sophie Cocke, Honolulu Civil Beat, 28 December 2011
30th November, 2011
Media Watch, News Release, Lingle US Senate 2012, 29 November 2011
HONOLULU – Former Governor Linda Lingle sent a letter today to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration regarding their proposed rule to designate the main Hawaiian Islands as a critical habitat for the Hawaiian Monk Seal.
She released the following statement:
“A recent proposal by the Federal Government to make 4,787 square miles of land and water in Hawaii a federal critical habitat is another example of government over-reach and insensitivity to the concerns of the people of this State.
→ Continue reading Former Governor rejects proposed habitat protections
29th September, 2011
Media Watch, Cute with Consequences, Honolulu Weekly, 28 September 2011
On the brink of extinction, monk seals are seen as a threat by Isle fishers
 [...] Since the early 1990s, when sightings of the rare creatures became a regular appearance throughout the inhabited Hawaiian Islands, tourists have flocked to take their pictures. Monk seal images now adorn magazines, postcards, T-shirts and caps. Diligent volunteers erect barrier ropes around sun-bathing seals, track their movements and guard their pups.
Still, not everyone has warm, fuzzy feelings toward the state’s official mammal. In meetings held recently around the state, commercial, recreational and subsistence fishers and other ocean users made it clear they’re running short of aloha for the rapidly dwindling species, primarily because they’re worried about how federal plans to save it may impact them.
“When people get upset over here, they’re gonna kill ‘em, and that’s a fact, bottom line,” testified Kauai resident Kalani Kapuniai at a Sept. 17 hearing on a draft programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) that calls for temporarily moving young seals from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) to undisclosed sites in the main Islands. Two monk seals were shot on Kauai in 2009, “and we were told that there were others that were never reported,” said Carl Berg, a member of Surfrider Foundation’s Kauai chapter. [Continues]
Source: Cute with Consequences, Joan Conrow, Honolulu Weekly, Cover Story, 28 September 2011
19th September, 2011
Media Watch, The Molokai Dispatch, 19th September 2011
Actions proposed to assist monk seal survival
[...] In a hearing about the PEIS held on Molokai last Thursday, community members and fishermen offered their opinion on the proposals. Many expressed concerns about the large amount of fish Hawaiian monk seals eat – fish that they say could be going to feed their families. [...]
More than 50 residents attended the hearing, and many testified before NMFS representatives and monk seal researchers. Many offered first-hand experience in encountering seals while fishing. Others were frustrated with the lack of local and cultural representation within the NMFS and in the PEIS document. [...]
One of the [alternative] proposals considered by NMFS officials was the development of a facility in the NWHI for the seals, protected from the dangers that threaten their survival. [NOAA Hawaiian monk seal recovery coordinator Jeff] Walters said this proposal was dismissed because of prohibitive costs and logistical challenges. [Resident and Molokai Planning Commissioner Lori] Buchanan said she thinks that alternative should still be considered, as no mention was made of what it would actually cost to carry out this option. [Continues]
Source: Recovering a species, Catherine Cluett, The Molokai Dispatch, 19th September 2011
18th September, 2011
Recent Publications
 Leah R. Gerber, James Estes, Tara Gancos Crawford, Lindsey E. Peavey, Andrew J. Read. 2011. Managing for extinction? Conflicting conservation objectives in a large marine reserve. Conservation Letters 00 (2011) 1–6. DOI: 10.1111/j.1755-263X.2011.00197.x [PDF 238 KB]
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