Hawai'i Monk Seals Remain Threatened

Since 1976, the Hawaiian monk seal has been listed as an endangered species.  This species is also on the International Union for the conservation of Nature's red list for threatened species.  Trade in the Hawaiian monk seal species or its parts is banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

The protection of critical habitat is an important part of an overall strategy to save this and other endangered species from extinction.   

Other threats include incidental capture in fishing gear, ingestion of pollution or toxic substances, a decrease in prey availability, and even intentional kills, in some cases by misguided fishermen thinking the seals are competing for their catches.  These factors, along with an inherently slow reproductive rate, continue to threaten the remaining Hawaiian monk seal population.

According to statistics from the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, beach counts of Hawaiian monk seal populations declined by 60 percent between 1958 and 1996.  Today only 1,200 - 1,400 of the animals exist in the wild, and their population continues to decline.

Marine biologists and environmentalists are sad to see the Hawaiian monk seal population decline.  This species is one of the few animals known to science to have evolved very little from their ancestral beginnings around 15 million years ago.  In a way, monk seals are living fossils of an earlier age.

The Marine National Monument

The establishment of the new Marine National Monument ensures that no development or resource harvesting will take place in the area, which is roughly the size of California and is the largest protected marine reserve in the world.  Public access is restricted and commercial and sport fishing will be completely phased out.

The Hawaiian monk seals have been exploited by whalers, hunters and fishermen since the 19th century.  Their population has been dangerously diminished and has never recovered.

The Establishment of the new National Monument is Key to saving the monk seals.
In June 1996, the Bush administration created the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, a 1,200 mile long 140,000 square mile stretch of open ocean northwest of Honolulu.  The area is dotted with uninhabited islands and reefs that provide safe habitat for 7,000 species of marine wildlife, a quarter of which are found nowhere else on the planet.

Additional conservational efforts such as the removal of pollution and marine debris, rehabilitating injured seals, and the mitigation of other human disturbances from harassment and loud boat motors to oil and fuel spills.

I share my concern for the underwater ecology, and aim to inspire all divers, young and old, to conserve, preserve, and protect nature's creation on every dive we make.
Roger B. Smith
PADI   MSDT 165146

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