Saving Seafood

Citizen Scientists Help Reveal Undetected Hawaiian Monk Seal Reproduction

April 26, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

A group of NOAA scientists has published a new paper in Marine Mammal Science that improves their estimations of reproductive rates in Hawaiian monk seals. Sighting patterns reveal unobserved pupping events, which revises reproductive rate estimates for Hawaiian monk seals in the main Hawaiian Islands. They couldn’t have done it without the help of citizen scientists reporting monk seal sightings. NOAA relies on public reports to collect data on seals in the main Hawaiian Islands. It would be impossible to consistently survey all of the beaches along 750 miles of inhabited shoreline.

Hawaiian monk seals are among the world’s most endangered marine mammals, with only around 1,400 remaining. Most of the population (about 1,100 seals) inhabit the remote Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The remainder (about 300 seals) live in the heavily populated main Hawaiian Islands. The monk seal has recently shown positive population trends in these islands. At the core of these encouraging data is the number of pups born each year.

Counting Pups

Hawaiian monk seals have pups throughout the year. NOAA sends teams of biologists to the Papahānaumokuākeakea Marine National Monument every year to count the monk seal population. And while the main Hawaiian Islands are densely populated with humans, monk seals often select secluded beaches for pupping. This makes it hard to know when and where to look, so it’s easy to miss some. And since we don’t always witness their birth, we don’t see or identify many of those seals until they are adults. That makes it difficult to estimate their age when they have pups of their own.

If we can improve how we measure maternal age and pup production, we can improve our estimate of the population’s reproductive rates. That enhances our ability to track population trends.

Citizen Scientists Make it Possible 

Unlike our work conducted from remote camps in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, it is not possible to routinely survey all beaches along more than 700 miles of coastline in the inhabited (main) Hawaiian Islands.  NOAA relies on public reports and volunteer citizen scientists to collect data on seals in the main Hawaiian Islands. Public reports and the contribution of volunteer citizen scientists allow our researchers to record many more pupping events on the main Hawaiian Islands. Our researchers were able to use these data in their study.

Public participation in monk seal monitoring vastly extends the coverage that agency biologists can accomplish alone. It also engages the community in stewardship of natural resources in Hawaiʻi. For example, with so many things shut down in 2020, NOAA biologists weren’t able to survey monk seals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. However, our information flow in the main Hawaiian Islands remained strong thanks to citizen scientists.

You can add to our data set by reporting your own monk seals sightings to the state-wide hotline at (888) 256-9840! Keep in mind, there is no need to approach a monk seal to make a report—always keep a safe distance from wildlife.

Thanks to these efforts, the newly published research describes the reproductive cycle and estimates reproductive rates of female Hawaiian monk seals in the main Hawaiian Islands.

Read the full release here

Continuing Species in the Spotlight Initiative Empowers NOAA Fisheries’ Endangered Species Conservation Efforts

April 22, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries has released nine new Species in the Spotlight Priority Action Plans. These plans highlight the most vital actions that NOAA Fisheries and our partners can take to reverse the declining populations of nine endangered marine species that are most at risk of extinction. Building on the successes of the past five years, NOAA Fisheries is renewing the initiative through 2025 to sustain momentum toward recovery.

The Species in the Spotlight initiative, launched in 2015, focuses time, energy, and resources on the most imperiled marine species. It motivates partners and community members to join the effort to save these species from extinction. The nine species are all listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act:

These species are at high risk of extinction in the near future because of a rapid population decline or habitat destruction. They face human-caused threats such as construction, development, or other economic activity.

“The Species in the Spotlight initiative is a critical effort by NOAA Fisheries and our partners to leverage our resources and make the greatest impact to reverse the decline of these endangered species. I’m pleased to build upon our successful efforts to date with the renewal of these Species in the Spotlight Priority Action Plans,” says Sam Rauch, Deputy Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries Regulatory Programs.

Read the full release here

Public Now Has 30 More Days to Comment on Proposed Ringed and Bearded Seal Critical Habitat

March 9, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is extending the deadline for members of the public to submit comments on the proposed rule to designate critical habitat for the threatened Beringia distinct population segment of the Pacific bearded seal subspecies under the Endangered Species Act. We have also extended the comment period for the revised proposed rule to designate critical habitat for the threatened Arctic subspecies of ringed seal . The end of the public comment period is extended from March 9, 2021, to April 8, 2021.

Both proposed rules were published in the Federal Register on January 8, 2021.

Read more.

HAWAII: Two of three dead monk seals on Kauai likely died from drowning in lay nets

February 4, 2021 — Post-mortem exams have revealed that two of the three Hawaiian monk seals that were found dead on Kauai’s north shore last year likely drowned in lay nets, wildlife officials said today.

Three seals were found dead separately — in September, November and December — all in the Anahola area of Kauai.

The unusual succession of deaths prompted an investigation by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Law Enforcement, which was offering a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to the issuance of a civil penalty or criminal conviction in one or both of these endangered Hawaiian monk seals.

The first seal, a juvenile male identified as RL52, was found dead around Sept. 10 after having just been spotted a week earlier nearby in good condition. The second seal, an untagged, juvenile female, was found dead around Nov. 18.

NOAA now believes the first two seals found in September and November likely died after becoming entangled in lay gill nets, a news release from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources said, based on recent lab test results and information gathered by law enforcement officials.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Star Advertiser

NOAA Fisheries to Hold Public Hearings on Proposed Critical Habitat for Ringed and Bearded Seals

February 1, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

Public comments accepted through March 9, 2021

NOAA Fisheries will hold three public hearings on proposed rules to designate critical habitat in U.S. waters off the coast of Alaska for Arctic ringed seals and the Beringia distinct population segment of bearded seals under the Endangered Species Act.

NOAA Fisheries opened a 60-day public comment period on the proposed rules when they were published in the Federal Register on January 8, 2021. The proposed critical habitat in the northern Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas provides sea ice conditions that are essential for ringed and bearded seal pupping, nursing, basking, and molting, as well as primary prey resources to support these seals. For bearded seals, the proposed critical habitat also provides acoustic conditions that allow for effective communication for breeding purposes.

Read more.

NOAA Fisheries Proposes Critical Habitat for Ringed and Bearded Seals in U.S. Arctic

January 7, 2021 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

NOAA Fisheries is proposing to designate critical habitat in U.S. waters off the coast of Alaska for Arctic ringed seals and the Beringia distinct population of bearded seals. Both species are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The ESA requires that NOAA Fisheries designate critical habitat for listed species in areas within the jurisdiction of the United States. Critical habitat identifies geographic areas that contain features essential to the conservation of a listed species.

Designating critical habitat does not create a preserve or refuge, and would not affect subsistence harvest of ringed or bearded seals by Alaska Natives.

Read more.

Alaska wanted Arctic ringed seals off endangered species list; federal officials rejected that request

November 27, 2020 — On Wednesday, the National Marine Fisheries Service ruled against a petition from the state of Alaska to delist the Arctic ringed seal from the Endangered Species Act.

Last year, the state of Alaska partnered with several North Slope entities to write the petition, arguing that keeping the ringed seal listed as endangered could negatively impact economic opportunities for the state, as well as subsistence rights.

“Although we provided substantial new information to the service, they argued that information was considered in other ways, even though that information wasn’t available previously,” said Chris Krenz, a wildlife science coordinator for the state. “We are disappointed that they took that tact with this petition.”

Krenz says the state believes that the ringed seal isn’t threatened. Officials noted the ringed seal population is in the millions, despite measurable losses in sea ice. Though climate scientists with the National Marine Fisheries Service predict that by the year 2100, there will be little to no sea ice in the Arctic, Krenz argues that looking that far ahead doesn’t constitute the foreseeable future.

Read the full story at KTOO

Maine’s booming seal population concerns local fishermen, biologists

November 19, 2020 — There’s a lot of debate recently about the seal population in New England, specifically off the coast of Maine.

Once nearly extinct, experts are now seeing a rapid increase in the number of seals in the Gulf of Maine due to decades of legal protection.

Biologists say there are three points to consider: While the increase in harbor seals is creating a healthier ecosystem for the gulf of Maine, it’s also creating problems for local lobstermen who say they’re a threat to their livelihoods, and it’s drawing new and potentially dangerous fish into our waters at a rate the state has never seen before.

“Here we have a pretty big population of seals,” Rusty Court, who’s been lobstering off the coast of Monhegan and Boothbay Harbor for 50 years, said.

Read the full story at WGME

MAINE: Conservation success or pests? Seals spark passionate debate

October 5, 2020 — Nick Muto has fished up and down the New England coast and there is nothing that gets his blood boiling more than the sight of a seal.

Muto, whose two boats fish for groundfish such as skate and monkfish as well as lobster, is among a growing group of anglers, beach goers and local officials who are quick to blame everything from disease to depleted fisheries to increased shark sightings on the exploding seal population.

“Areas that we used to traditionally fish that were as close to guarantees as you could get have been strip mined of fish, and the fish have been driven out of there by seals,” Muto said. “They have eaten fish out of our nets. They have been caught in our nets. They are everywhere.”

The debate over seals was reignited after the death in July of a swimmer killed by a great white off Harpswell, Maine. Seals are often shark prey, and experts believe Julie Dimperio Holowach may have been mistaken for a seal.

Read the full story at The Washington Post

Hawaiian Monk Seal Translocation Project Improves Survival

August 31, 2020 — The following was released by NOAA Fisheries:

In a recent study, we found that our Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program’s translocation efforts from 2012 to 2014 proved highly successful. Translocation is “the deliberate movement of organisms from one site for release in another.” It has been broadly applied to manage and conserve terrestrial wildlife since the 1800s. But it is far less common in the marine world, and is rarely applied to marine mammals. However, our team’s efforts buck that trend—about 400 monk seals have been translocated since the 1980s.

Most of these actions were taken to reduce immediate risks associated with the seals’ location:

Monk Seal Recovery Efforts

These translocations are part of many activities our researchers and staff conduct to improve the survival of seals:

  • Removing marine debris from entangled seals and from their habitat
  • Removing fishing hooks embedded in seals’ bodies
  • Re-uniting mothers and pups who become separated
  • Mitigating shark predation
  • Rehabilitating injured, sick or starving seals
  • Vaccinating seals to prevent disease (distemper) outbreaks
  • Conservation translocation

We estimate that up to one-third of the remaining monk seals are alive due to these and other interventions.

Read the full release here