Hawaiian Monk Seal (Monachus schauinslandi)

 The mullets M and I netted and put in our aquarium are growing surprisingly quickly.  Recently we caught some black spot sergeant's (I will describe them in a later post) and added them to the tank but it is becoming overcrowded.  The sharp nosed mullets are supposed to ultimately grow to a foot and a half long. In the last few days when I reach in the tank to adjust something they are nipping at my hand.  We are worried about them biting at the smaller fish.  So we decided to return some to the ocean.  We caught 2 (of 3) this morning out of the tank and M and I took them to the shore, near where we caught them, to release.  We also used this as an opportunity to collect some fresh sea water for the tank. 

We went to a small cut in the shore to get down to the sandy area between the rocks and poured them in.  They instantly joined up with a small school of mullets just out past the wave break in the water.  As I turned around to head back up I saw a large brown object with a head looking at us about 10 feet away.  It shocked me because we had walked right by it (it's brown fur made it blend in with the rock next to it).  Next to the waves I try to keep an eye toward the ocean so a large wave doesn't catch us off guard--and the seal was out of my attention zone.  I am not used to seeing seals so my mind took a split second to register what this was with a dog-like face looking at us.  As it registered in my brain that this was a seal I also realized we were between it and the water and it was the size of M. It was bobbing its head up and down looking at us and flopped forward a bit--toward us. 

I told M to freeze and get behind me (yes, in retrospect this is a contradiction).  Then we edged to the side against the opposite rock wall and as soon as we could we climbed up the rock wall away from the seal.  I was also realizing that this was an endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal (Monachus schauinslandi); there are only about a thousand of them left in the wild and it is illegal to harass or directly interact with them in any way.  As we climbed up on top of the rock and looked down we could see a number bleached into the fur on its back (N20) and orange tags on its back flippers.

It lay there for a few more minutes then started lumbering awkwardly and slowly toward the water.  Once it hit the water however it transformed into greased lightning and zoomed away, then reappeared and did some barrel rolls, floated lazily for moment, and then shot off again out of sight.  I was wishing I had my camera with me but I didn't.  We noted the time when we got back to the van. 

When we got back home I reported it to the NOAA Hawaiian Monk Seal hotline (link). 

"I saw a monk seal resting on the beach (on the sand next to the rocks) on the North shore of Ka'ena park near the parking area at the road's end of Farrington Highway.  The lat/long from google earth are  21°34'47.20"N  158°14'11.91"W .  The time was 9:15 am, Oct. 7, 2012.  The back flippers were tagged and it had a "N20" bleach mark on its back."

Monk Seals are very rare, not only are Hawaiian Monk Seals down to 1,100 individuals, the Caribbean monk seals are now extinct and the only other monk seals, Mediterranean monk seals, are also critically endangered (link).  

 I searched online and found this same seal (N20) mentioned on another blog (MonkSealMania). In the picture below it looks younger and smaller than the seal we saw. 

Credit for image http://monksealmania.blogspot.com

 The NOAA hotline got back to me with some additional info. It turns out she is a female pup, also known as RL42, and was born nearby on July 24th.  Her mother is from Nihoa in the northwest Hawaiian island chain. 

"Thank you for your email. We appreciate all sighting reports as they give us valuable information on the whereabouts, behaviors and favored locations of seals here in the main Hawaiian Islands. The seal you saw is a female weaned pup  from this year. She was born on the western side of the beach just down from Camp Erdman on July 24th. Her mother is a seal that swam down from Nihoa last year and has been hauling out around Kaena Point. Little RL42 has been hanging out around her natal beach since she was weaned and has slowly started exploring to the west in the last few weeks."

Also, here is a video from National Geographic about Hawaiian Monk Seals.