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Deepseawaters
Home Deep
Sea FAQ
Are Hawaiian monk seals coming back?
Are Hawaiian monk seals coming back?
 The
Hawaiian monk seal was listed as endangered
throughout its range on November 23, 1976. Counts have been
made at the atolls, islands and reefs where they haul out
in the northwest Hawaiian Islands since the late 1950s. By
1982, the population had declined to half of its 1957-1958
level. Since the mid-1980's, beach counts have declined at
five percent per year. NMFS estimates that currently there
are approximately 1400 animals. The number of births declined
significantly at all five major breeding locations in 1990,
followed by some recovery in subsequent years. However, the
number of births has not reached the level observed in the
mid-to-late 1980's, and is not expected to in the near future
because of the high losses of immature seals at French Frigate
Shoals and mobbed seals at Laysan and Lisianski
Islands.
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