February 24, 2024 — Throughout 2023, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) conducted multiple Hawaiian monk seal research camps in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. NOAA researchers said the total population size is between 1,512 and 1,743. After decades of declining numbers, the number of monk seals has increased on average by 2 percent per year since 2013.
During NOAA’s last assessment and recovery camp, they documented 170 Hawaiian monk seal pups born last year at the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.
“A lot of the important work that we do is being out at the field sites during the reproductive season, so that we have a chance to catch situations that may come up that would cause a seal to not survive,” said Thea Johanos, the supervisory research biologist for NOAA’s Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program.