Field Report: December 2022

The Kauai team logged 239 seal sightings this month (243 in Nov, 277 in Oct, 400 in Sept, 320 in Aug, 311 in July). This included 31 individually identified seals.

New:

·       Juvenile female R2XW was found hooked with ulua gear and trailing pigtail swivel/mono leader. Leader was trimmed, however 3 weeks later the hook rotated into mouth and around mandible. The seal was captured at Glass Beach and held overnight at the DLNR baseyard until Gregg Levine and Claudia Cedillo arrived the following morning to assist with sedation and successful hook removal. The seal was released at Glass Beach shortly after dehooking and has been resighted in good health several times since.

Updates:

·       Juvenile RP32 has completed his molt and recovered body condition. We had been monitoring his thin body condition for several months.

Molting: 5 seals molted this past month.

Bleach Marking: 4 seals were bleach marked.

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Field Report: November 2022

Update: 

The Kauai team logged 243 seal sightings this month. This included 30 individually identified seals.

• November: 243
• October: 277
• September: 400
• August: 320
• July: 311
• June: 283
• May: 248
• April: 294
• March: 292
• February: 233
• January: 233
• December: 267
• November: 168

New:

·       A dog barked at and chased a seal into the water at Salt Pond Beach Park. No contact was made between the seal and dog. DOCARE quickly responded and issued a citation to the dog owner who made no attempt to intervene and continued to allow the dog to roam freely. 

Updates:

·       Five large dogs harassed and possibly bit two adult seals at Makua (a.k.a Tunnels Beach) near Cannon’s surf break. It appeared one man brought all five dogs to the beach and allowed them to run off leash and did very little to stop them from harassing and chasing the seal off the beach. Photos were submitted of the dogs’ owner, and sent to DOCARE, OLE, and Humane Society for further action. All seals seen in the area since are in good health and show no signs of dog bite injuries.

·       Continue to closely monitor yearling RP32 who is in thin body condition. The seal is likely in pre-molt and has been hauling out at his birth beach.

Molting: Two seals molted this past month.

Bleach Marking: Five seals were bleach marked (many new Niihau seals in the Poipu area).

Vaccination: Booster vaccinated weaned pup RQ78.

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Field Report: October 2022

Monthly Update: The Kauai team logged 277 seal sightings this month. This included 32 individually identified seals.

• October: 277
• September: 400
• August: 320
• July: 311
• June: 283
• May: 248
• April: 294
• March: 292
• February: 233
• January: 233
• December: 267
• November: 168
• October: 229

New:

·       Five large dogs harassed and possibly bit an adult seal at Makua at Cannon’s surf break (near Tunnels surf break). It appeared one man brought all 5 dogs to the beach and allowed them to run off leash and did very little to stop them from harassing and chasing the seal off the beach. Photos were submitted of the dogs and owner, and sent to DOCARE and Humane Society for further action. All seals seen in the area since are in good health and show no signs of dog bite injuries.

Updates:

·       Continue to closely monitor yearling RP32 who is in thin body condition. The seal is likely in pre-molt.

·       PK3 weaned from mother RK28 after 40 days of nursing. The pup was flipper tagged with Q78 and Q79 tags and vaccinated. His new ID is RQ78. The pup has remained in his natal area and is thriving.

Molting: 5 seals molted this past month.

Vaccination: Vaccinated weaned pup RQ78.

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Field Report: September 2022

Monthly Update: The Kauai team logged 400 seal sightings this month. This included 41 individually identified seals.

• September: 400
• August: 320
• July: 311
• June: 283
• May: 248
• April: 294
• March: 292
• February: 233
• January: 233
• December: 267
• November: 168
• October: 229
• September: 251

New:

·       Nothing to report.

Updates:

·       Continue to closely monitor yearling RP32 who is in thin body condition. The seal is likely in pre-molt.

·       RK28 gave birth to PK3 (3^rd pup of the year for Kauai). The usual signage was erected and the pup watch schedule continued. The male pup is thriving, and weaned in early October (which will be reported in the next report).

Molting: 5 seals molted this past month.

Bleaching: 3 seals were bleach marked.

Vaccination: Vaccinated weaned pup RQ52.

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Field Report: August 2022

The Kauai team logged 320 seal sightings this month. This included 32 individually identified seals.

• August: 320
• July: 311
• June: 283
• May: 248
• April: 294
• March: 292
• February: 233
• January: 233
• December: 267
• November: 168
• October: 229
• September: 251
• August: 213

New:

·       RK28 gave birth to PK3 (3^rd pup of the year for Kauai) on the north shore. The usual signage was erected and the pup watch schedule continued. The male pup is thriving.

·       Closely monitored yearling RP32 who is in thin body condition. The seal is likely in pre-molt.

Updates:

·       RP28 – hooked and trailing line. Hook was non-life threatening in right corner of the mouth. Removed leader with metal swivel using a seat belt cutter mounted on a pole. Will monitor RP28, anticipate hook will come out on its own. UPDATE: seal was re-sighted several times this month and is hook-free; the seal threw the hook on his own.

·       An adult seal was sighted at Secret’s Beach with heavy line trailing from the mouth. The seal was chased off by an off-leash dog before staff arrived. The seal’s ID is unknown and no further reports of a hooked seal have been received. UPDATE: no further reports or sightings.

·       Pup translocation: female pup PK2 who was born at Polihale to R400 was immediately translocated to the north shore after weaning. The pup was tagged RQ52 (Q52/Q53 tags) and is thriving in her new location, socializing with many other seals in the area. UPDATE: the seal has remained in the release area and is thriving.

Molting: 3 seals molted this past month.

Vaccination: Vaccinated weaned pup RQ52.

Volunteers 

·       Trained 5 new volunteers

·       Volunteer pup watch schedule is in place for the pups and weaners on the north shore.

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Monk Seal Monday #165: Anouncing PK1

In the early morning hours of Thursday, May 26, a robust RB00 gave birth to Kauai’s first pup of the year on a remote North Shore beach.

PC: K. Rogers

Fifteen-year-old RB00 was born on Kauai but lives on Hawaii Island most of the year. For the past four consecutive years, she has returned to her natal island of Kauai to give birth to her own pups. Her previous Kauai pups are all thriving and include RL08, RM36, and RP32.

PK1 (Pup Kauai-1) has been out swimming for 30-45 minute sessions. RB00 is an attentive mother who keeps a close eye on her pup and methodically presents for nursing bouts. Males have been reported to make stop-by visits (RN30 has made several) and RB00 routinely responds with open-mouthed vocalizing.

More than 20 telephoto, close-up, ventral photographs taken from slightly different angles show PK1’s piko (navel) but no penile opening, indicating PK is female!

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PC: J. Thomton

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Field Report: September 2021

Monthly Update: The Kauai team logged 251 seal sightings this month. This included 30 individually identified seals.

• September: 251
• August: 213
• July: 286
• June: 218
• May: 209
• April: 155
• March: 137
• February: 119
• January: 125
• December: 119
• November: 133
• October: 152
• September: 152

New:

• Discovered another new yearling male seal near Kapaa. The seal is likely from Niihau and we hope to flipper tag him soon.
  
• Off-leash dogs and irresponsible pet owners continue to disturb seals. Two large dogs were witnessed by the public harassing a large seal at Makua (also known as “Tunnels”). The seal was lunging and vocalizing at the dogs as the dogs continued to circle and bark at it. No physical contact was made. The owner was out snorkeling and did little to intervene once out of the water. DOCARE and the Humane Society were contacted. The Humane Society field officer said they will focus patrols in that area. Additional reports of off-leash dogs were received this month. 

Updates:

• Adult female RK28 pupped on the north shore on August 10, 2021. The mother and pup (KP3) remained in the area until the pup weaned on October 2, 2021. The nursing period was 53 days. Flipper tagging and vaccination is scheduled for October.
  
• The female pup RP20 born at Polihale and translocated to the north shore after weaning has remained in the release area; and has been sighted socializing with other juvenile seals regularly. 
  
• Due to COVID-19 stay-at-home measures, our new methods of monitoring continue, which include:
  • Weekly surveys of key areas conducted by staff;
  • DAR staff conducting weekly island wide Creel Surveys;
  • PMRF staff continuing to send in routine reports and photos; and
  • Requesting that people who call the hotline to report seals assist us by sending several photos and setting-up SRA signs or sticks. 

Morbillivirus Vaccination: RP32 received her initial vaccine this month.

Molting: Four seals molted this month.

Volunteers:

• The volunteer response program was restarted in a modified form in June after being on hold since March, 2020. Currently, volunteers are dispatched for hauled out monk seal reports to post signs, assess and ID the seal, collect routine data, and then depart the area. Outreach/education should be as minimal as possible to reduce COVID exposure risk. For busy locations, a spot check schedule will be established. This technique has proven effective and will continue until further notice.
  
• The training of new volunteers has been on hold due to COVID Delta variant surging. Program information and follow-up emails sent to new recruits.

Research/Support of PIFSC:

• Subsampled KP3 tissue plug for NOAA PIFSC.
• 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.

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Monk Seal Monday #141: Meet RP32.

Kauai’s first pup of 2021 was born on April 23rd. On September 10th, he received his official flipper tags–P32 on his left flipper and P33 on his right.

Thanks to regular reports by volunteers and interested beachgoers, we have a bit of a history of what the youngster’s been up to in recent months:

• After weaning around June 16th, he hung around his natal beach for a few weeks.
• Then, he started to explore coastlines south of his birth area.
• On July 15th, he was bleach-marked “V1,” making it easier to identify him, though he also has a distinct natural bleach marks, too–white tip on his right fore-flipper and a big white spot on his right side. The combination of the three bleach marks made it easy to identify him.
• On July 29th, P32 was found with an ulua hook in the corner of his mouth. Fortunately, it was superficial and he was able to free himself of the hook by August 5th.
• Once RP20 was translocated to this same area, P32 was often seen interacting with his and pups from 2020, RM36 and RM58.
• Starting August 29th, P32 went missing.
• He reappeared on Sept. 10th and, at that time, he was outfitted with flipper tags. Now, he goes by the permanent identification of RP32.

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PC: M. Olry and V. Poelzl.

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