Update: The Kauai team logged 264 seal sightings this month. This included 39 individually identified seals.
February: 264
January: 319
December: 180
November: 223
October: 258
September: 203
August: 324
July: 239
June: 179
May: 262
April: 348
March: 350
New:
- Adult female RK13 hauled out on the road shoulder at Fuji Beach, Kapaa, requiring one lane to be closed. She was displaced back into water by NOAA and DLNR staff, and the lane was re-opened.
- Adult female RK13 hauled out with a small amount of gillnet wrapped around her muzzle and top teeth. A blunt hook attached to a pole was used to pull most of the net off. A small amount remained attached to the top left canine but did not pose a hazard and was gone by the next day.
- Juvenile male R1NI was displaced from under a hazardous undercut bank at Kiahuna Beach, Poipu. The overhanging bank collapsed two days later.
- Juvenile female NL04 sighted on Kauai. This seal was born on Niihau and flipper tagged during a Niihau survey. She hauled out on the north shore and was the first sighting her on Kauai.
Updates on previously reported issues:
- Five of the six pups born in 2019 have been sighted recently and continue to thrive, the sixth is likely on the remote Na Pali Coast.
- Displacements: Adult male R4DW was displaced from Glass Beach at sunset due to the unsafe night time haul-out location.
- Molting:
- RN44 completed his molt on the north shore.
- RJ36 molted on the south shore.
- RK58 molted on the south shore.
- Bleach marking: 1 applied this month.
Research/Support of Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center
- Sub-sampled scat, molt, and tissue plug samples accordingly.
- Logged all seal sightings for PIFSC database. Organized photos and reported sightings, molt tallies, survival factors to send to PIFSC.
Kaua'i Seals 