by Claire Sauter
The Hawaiian monk seal, called “‘ilio holo i ka uaua”, in the native Hawaiian language, means “dog that runs in rough seas.” Unfortunately, the monk seal is currently living up to its name by being one of the most endangered mammals in the world.
These primarily solitary marine mammals are underwater hunters but go onto sandy beaches to sleep and give birth to small black pups. The adult monk seal has dark grey to brown fur that it sheds periodically, and many seals are known for natural markings on their fur that are unique to each individual.
However, the Hawaiian monk seal is facing many threats including limitations in food availability, shark predation, entanglement in marine pollution, habitat loss due to sea level rise, and even intentional killings. Today, NOAA Fisheries estimates that there are only 1,400 seals left, about a third of their historic numbers.
While these threats are specific to the monk seal, it is one of the hundreds of Hawaiian organisms on the endangered species list which comprise the largest proportion out of any state. Hawaii, making up only 0.2% of the nation’s land, holds more than 30% of the country’s endangered species and has seen 75% of the nation’s documented extinctions.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature identifies the main causes of extinction globally to be habitat loss and degradation, overexploitation, illegal wildlife trade, invasive species, climate change, and pollution. The organization currently lists 32,441 species threatened with extinction.
However, the number of endangered species in Hawaii is much higher compared to other areas. Professor Rosemary Gillespie, an evolutionary biologist at UC Berkeley who studies islands in the Pacific, attributed this to the fact that the Hawaiian islands are the most isolated archipelago in the world.
“What happens in all of these situations is that when the organisms reach the islands, there are lots of ecological opportunities, so there is spectacular diversification. But with that, they become specialized and tend to occupy small areas,” said Gillespie.
As a result, such species are particularly susceptible to impacts such as disease or loss of habitat.
Steve Beissinger, a UC Berkeley professor of conservation ecology and researcher, referred to it as “a sort of funny double edged sword.” He explained that the isolation is both the reason for Hawaii’s high rates of species diversity, as well as why it is so under threat.
The monk seal, like many other Hawaiian organisms, is limited to a very small geographic region and is found nowhere else in the world. The seals are part of the Hawaiian indigenous culture, having been mentioned in an oral tradition: a creation story lists it as one of the creatures living alongside the first humans.
However, compared to other species like sharks, the monk seals are less widely known because of where their range is centered. As a result, they face some problems in terms of public sympathy.
“When I started working with monk seals about ten years ago, people didn’t really know much about them,” said Dr. Trisha Kehaulani Watson-Sproat, the owner of an advocacy consulting group for sociocultural issues in Hawaii. Watson-Sproat is an active member of the Hawaiian indigenous community who has worked with monk seals and studied their historic cultural significance.
She explained that this lapse in recognition was because up until the twentieth century, the seal population primarily resided in the northwestern Hawaiian islands and did not frequently venture to the main, human-populated islands. Increased sightings have brought up questions about how these seals fit into Hawaiian history and culture.
“It’s certainly not as significant as other species, but it’s significant nonetheless. This doesn’t mean that there still isn’t significant tension and hostility towards them because many people do not think they are native,” said Watson-Sproat. For example, she noted that while many Hawaiians recognize the seal’s importance, there have been some misconceptions among some locals that the seals were brought by the federal government and adversely affect fisheries.
Protection of the species began with its listing as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act in 1976. The Monk Seal Recovery Plan was initiated by the Hawaiian state government outlining efforts needed to recover the dwindling seal population. These efforts to improve seal survival have included translocations, removing marine pollution such as fishing nets and hooks, rehabilitating sick or injured seals, vaccinations, and public education.
As a result, the monk seal population is beginning to stabilize at 1,400 individuals with a gradual increase of 2% annually in the last decade. However, the larger ecological situation in Hawaii remains extremely precarious with over 400 other Hawaiian species at risk.
Protecting these environments demands significant work and collaboration. Who is involved in these efforts, as well as which groups are represented at the decision making table and which are not, are areas of concern to many conservationists.
“I still think there is a lot of division between science from a western standpoint and a lot of the efforts targeted toward Hawaiian and local communities. I have concerns about not focusing their attention enough on Hawaiians,” said Watson-Sproat. “I still think they have ways to go when it comes to working with and involving the Hawaiian and local community.”
Because these species and environments are culturally and socially meaningful and their health impacts local people, having more equitable representation in research, restoration, and decision making is a topic of concern that members of this community don’t want overlooked.
But even with more integrated support and attention, the scale and impacts of endangered species in Hawaii and beyond leave many to question whether these efforts will ever be enough. For instance, the Center for Biological Diversity conducted a study in 2016 that estimated the United States would need to spend $2.3 billion dollars a year to recover endangered species with only 3.5% of this amount currently being spent.
“It’s sort of like this question of, well, what do I save? Do I choose the ones that are most likely to be successful, or the ones that people care the most about, or the ones that maybe are going to have the biggest roles in ecosystems, or the ones that will be cheapest?” Beissinger said. “I don’t know. And then the question is, do you let any of them fall through the cracks? Should you let any fall through the cracks?”
Watson-Sproat also noted the importance of accepting what might be unpleasant in order to make meaningful decisions going forward.
“Every species you lose is horrific. It’s insane and it’s terrible, but how we start to find ways to protect species and create protected areas that will be successful, will be supported by a wide community and a diverse community and are set up to succeed in the long run,” said Watson-Sproat. “That’s a hard conversation to have, but it’s an important conversation to have.”
Tackling conservation efforts are often complex and include addressing factors beyond climate change.
“Sometimes you think, well, climate change is the most horrible problem to be confronting the world at the moment. But in Hawaii, there are even more severe problems because the invasive species and disease are happening by the day you can see these huge changes,” said Gillespie. “And it’s incredibly frightening, really, if you are worried about conservation.”
While climate change has the potential to become a larger threat in the future, Bessinger noted that at the moment, more direct human impacts, such as land use decisions, are having the most direct influence on ecosystems. In a 2010 statewide assessment of forest conditions and resource strategy, the Hawaiian Department of Land and Natural Resources identified invasive alien species, whose takeover has been caused and accelerated by human activity, as the most significant threat to native species in Hawaii.
While the rates of species extinction due to and exacerbated by human activity is a complex challenge, some are hopeful that conservation efforts can work to maintain species diversity, as well as preserve cultural significance.
Watson-Sproat gave an example of a recent change she witnessed in Waikiki, a famous tourist strip of beach on Oahu, which is now seeing sharks and schools of fish return during the pandemic that are typically chased away by tourists.
“I remember when I was little and my grandpa used to take me to Waikiki to swim, there was always fish,” she said. “So what we’re seeing now is more the ecosystem of my childhood, and it’s just really amazing to see that you have sort of the entire food web moving back in the moment you remove those anthropogenic impacts.”
To her, the opportunity to more clearly see the immediate environmental impacts of human activity, such as excessive tourism, is a sort of “silver lining” for the pandemic.
“When you’re having tens of millions of tourists a year, it’s not necessarily the way the local people live their lives. It’s the influx of perhaps way too many humans who are not from here into ecosystems where they should not be,” she remarked.
In the case of the monk seal, recovery efforts have begun to turn the tides for these creatures, but there is still much to be done for these Hawaiian species and other species around the globe.
Claire Sauter (she/her) is a first year majoring in Molecular Environmental Biology. She’s interested in ecology, biodiversity, and maintaining healthy human-ecosystem relationships. She’s also interested in art and writing, and is a firm believer in the importance of journalism. Through Perennial she hopes to broaden her perspectives on the diverse aspects of environmental issues and help to promote the importance of science communication and conversation. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, visual art, playing music, reading, and being outside!