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Home NOAA Confirms Caribbean Monk Seal Extinct
NOAA Confirms Caribbean Monk Seal Extinct
Other Monk Seal Populations Struggling
June 6, 2008
 After
a five year review, NOAA's Fisheries Service
has determined that the Caribbean monk seal,
which has not been seen for more than 50 years, has gone extinct-the
first type of seal to go extinct from human causes.
Monk
seals became easy targets for hunters while resting,
birthing, or nursing their pups on the beach. Overhunting
by humans led to these seals' demise, according to NOAA biologists.
The
last confirmed sighting of the seal was in 1952 in the Caribbean
Sea at Seranilla Bank, between Jamaica and the Yucatán Peninsula.
This was the only subtropical seal native to the Caribbean
Sea and Gulf of Mexico.
"Humans
left the Caribbean monk seal population unsustainable after
overhunting them in the wild," said Kyle Baker, biologist
for NOAA's Fisheries Service southeast region.
"Unfortunately, this lead to their demise and labels the species
as the only seal to go extinct from human causes."
 Caribbean
monk seals were listed as endangered on March 11,
1967, under the Endangered Species Preservation Act, and relisted
under the Endangered Species Act on April
10, 1979. Since then, several efforts have been made to investigate
unconfirmed reports of the species in or near the Caribbean
Sea, Gulf of Mexico, southern Bahamas, and Greater Antilles.
These expeditions only confirmed sightings of other seal types,
such as stray arctic seals.
Five-year
status reviews are a requirement of the Endangered Species
Act to ensure that the status of a species listed as threatened
or endangered remains accurate and has not changed, for better
or worse. The most recent review began in 2003.
NOAA's
Fisheries Service plans to publish a proposed rule in the
Federal Register, seeking public comment to permanently remove
Caribbean monk seals from the Endangered
Species List. Species are removed from this list
when their populations are no longer threatened or endangered,
or when they are declared extinct.
"Worldwide,
populations of the two remaining monk seal species are declining,"
said Baker. "We hope we've learned from the extinction of
Caribbean monk seals, and can provide stronger protection
for their Hawaiian and Mediterranean relatives."
Hawaiian
and Mediterranean monk seals are endangered and at risk of
extinction with populations dipping below 1,200 and 500 individuals,
respectively.
NOAA's
Fisheries Service is responsible for protecting the Hawaiian
monk seal. That population is declining at a rate of about
four percent per year, and NOAA biologists predict the population
could fall below 1,000 animals in the next three to four years,
placing the Hawaiian monk seal among the world's most endangered
marine species. Unlike the Caribbean monk seal, Hawaiian
monk seals face different survival challenges, such
as lack of food sources for young seals, entanglement in marine
debris, predation by sharks, and loss of haul-out and pupping
beaches due to erosion.
"The
Hawaiian monk seal is a treasure to preserve for future generations,"
said Bud Antonelis, biologist for NOAA's Fisheries
Service Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center.
"NOAA's Fisheries Service has developed a monk seal recovery
plan, but we need continued support from organizations and
the public if we are to have a chance at saving it from extinction.
Time is running out."
Other
species of marine mammals that have gone extinct in modern
times include the Atlantic gray whale (1700s
or 1800s) and stellar sea cow (late 1700s),
presumably due to overhunting by whalers. Exploitation of
Caribbean monk seals began during the same time period.
Caribbean
monk seals were first discovered during Columbus's second
voyage in 1494, when eight seals were killed for meat. Following
European colonization from the 1700s to 1900s, the seals were
exploited intensively for their blubber, and to a lesser extent
for food, scientific study and zoological collection. Blubber
was processed into oil and used for lubrication, coating the
bottom of boats, and as lamp and cooking oil. Seal skins were
sought to make trunk linings, articles of clothing, straps
and bags.
Scientists
are unsure about exactly when Caribbean monk seals went extinct.
Although there have been no confirmed sightings since 1952,
it is conceivable that undetected seals persisted for a short
period thereafter. The seals lived 20 to 30 years, so experts
believe that some adults possibly lived into the 1960s or
1970s.
The
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency
of the U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing
economic security and national safety through the prediction
and research of weather and climate-related events and information
service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental
stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources.
Through the emerging Global Earth
Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working
with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the
European Commission to develop a global monitoring network
that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts
and protects.
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