August 11, 2015 — Federal fisheries authorities want to more than double the small population of endangered Hawaiian monk seals in the state’s main islands.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service on Tuesday released a draft management plan for the endangered species, of which approximately 200 live in the main Hawaiian Islands.
There are approximately 1,100 Hawaiian monk seals total, with most of them living in the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The species was listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in 1976.
NOAA’s Hawaiian Monk Seal Recovery Coordinator Rachel Sprague said that while the population of monk seals in the main Hawaiian Islands has been increasing, the overall population continues to decline.
“The main Hawaiian Islands have a fairly small portion of the overall monk seal population,” Sprague said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “If climate change or sea level rise or infectious disease did get into the population, they could be really catastrophic for such a small population. Rather than thinking about trying to really do a lot of active interventions, we’re more trying to set up a situation for the future to support the monk seal population growing to a level where they could be considered recovered.”
Read the full story from the Associated Press at the New Jersey Herald