Monk Seal Management Summary for Kauai in 2014:
2014 was a busy and promising year for monk seal recovery on Kauai. Below are some of the numbers we tallied based on reports submitted by the public and efforts by volunteers and staff members. (Please note, these are only the numbers for Kauai and don’t represent the larger picture of monk seal recovery in the Hawaiian islands.)
Grand sightings total: 2,516 monk seal sightings on Kauai in 2014! (6.9 seals per day).
Kauai population: 47 unique individual seals sighted in 2014.
Births:
- 5 seal pups born (3 male and 2 female).
- 3 pregnant females likely pupped on Niihau (departed pregnant, returned thin).
Mortalities: 4 seals died.
- 2 were 2014 pups (PK5 – dog attack, and RF58 – intentionally killed, investigation is ongoing)
- 1 was a previously unknown yearling (R4DD – cause of death was likely drowning)
- 1 was a juvenile from 2012 cohort (RL17 – cause of death unknown).
New Seals: we sighted 11 new seals in 2014, likely from Niihau.
- 4 were flipper tagged (R4DD, R8HE, R8HP, R1KY).
- 1 was captured for surgical removal of an injured eye (R1KU) and eventually released on Niihau.
- 3 were bleach marked for temporary identification.
Photo credit: M. Miyashiro
The largest and strongest pup of the year is female RF30. Based on her excellent body condition, it is obvious that she quickly learned to forage on her own after weaning. She was routinely sighted during the final few months of 2014 along the east side of Kauai.
Kaua'i Seals 