A New High and Low:<\/b> First, the good news: In 2007, 14 endangered Hawaiian monk seal pups were born in the Main Hawaiian Islands, the highest number on record.<\/p>\n
The bad news is that the monk seal population in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, where a vast majority of the seals live, continues to decline and now includes fewer than 1,000 individuals. What\u2019s more, the fact that juvenile seals there are not surviving to adulthood bodes poorly for future reproduction.<\/p>\n
According to a recent population assessment by the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center\u2019s monk seal recovery team, the monk seal population at the six main colonies in the NWHI has been decreasing by about 4.1 percent a year since 1998. Last year, populations at all of the sites except Midway decreased.<\/p>\n
In its report, the team admits that last year\u2019s counts are not entirely accurate. At Laysan, Pearl and Hermes Reef, Midway, and Kure, \u201cwe probably identified nearly all the seals but had a few new individuals show up towards the end of the season,\u201d they wrote. \u201cAt [French Frigate Shoals] and Lisianski, we clearly didn\u2019t identify all the seals, the latter due to the field season being cut short due to a medical emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even so, the team estimates that 784 non-pups and 151 pups were counted at the six sites, for a total of 935 monk seals, nearly 80 percent of which are adults and pups. About 15 percent are juveniles and less than ten percent are sub-adults. In the mid- to late-1980s, juveniles and sub-adults made up about 40 percent of the NWHI monk seal population.<\/p>\n
A February report by the PIFSC states that high mortality of immature seals \u201cappears to have led to the shift in age composition, particularly at French Frigate Shoals, where shark predation continues unabated.\u201d<\/p>\n
The report continues that, at FFS, 16 seals were known to have been bitten by sharks last year, seven of which were nursing or weaned pups. Four of those pups died or disappeared, two were severely amputated and have a low chance of long-term survival, and the last pup escaped with minor injuries.<\/p>\n
Pulling Out:<\/b> Faced with the possibility of getting into more trouble, the Hawai`i Institute of Marine Biology has withdrawn its request for a contested case hearing over last summer\u2019s decision by the Board of Land and Natural Resources to fine coral scientist Greta Aeby for violating conditions of her Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine Refuge permit.<\/p>\n
According to a recent press release by KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance, the hearings officer appointed to the case ruled on February 21 that KAHEA had standing to participate and that the scope of the hearing \u201cshould be enlarged to investigate the full range of potentially illegal activities that occurred on the 2006 research expedition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although KAHEA had hoped to address alleged outstanding violations during the hearing, program director Marti Townsend says she supports HIMB\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want to go through a contested case unnecessarily, but I hope this sends a message to researchers and [Papahanumokuakea Marine National Monument] co-managers that the ways things were happening aren\u2019t good enough,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
A New NAR?<\/b> The state Department of Land and Natural Resources\u2019s Natural Area Reserve System Commission is proposing to designate 1,311 acres of native, leeward O`ahu forest (currently known as the Poamoho Public Hunting Area) as a new Natural Area Reserve (NAR).<\/p>\n
The proposed reserve lies between a U.S. Army training area owned by Kamehameha Schools and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service\u2019s new O`ahu Forest National Wildlife Refuge. Because the entire area has been leased to the Army until 2029, a draft proposal for the reserve notes that the military may conduct training in the proposed Poamoho NAR during weekends and holidays with prior notice to the general public. Those training activities \u201care typically limited to single file, small unit maneuvers along ridgelines,\u201d and do not include the use of live fire or explosives, the proposal states,<\/p>\n
A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for 6 p.m., April 30 in the first-floor board room of the Kalanimoku Buliding at 1151 Punchbowl Street in Honolulu. For more information, call Emma Yuen, Division of Forestry and Wildlife planner, at (808) 587-4170.<\/p>\n
A Clarification: <\/b> Last month\u2019s article on the `aha kiole advisory committee erroneously quoted William Aila as stating that the committee had held meetings in Ko`olauoko. According to Ko`olaupoko Hawaiian Civic Club president Mahealani Cypher, no such meetings had been held.<\/p>\n
— Teresa Dawson<\/p>\n
Volume 18, Number 10 April 2008<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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