Seal Rehab at Keahole? On October 20, the state Natural Energy Laboratory Hawai`i Authority’s board of directors gave preliminary approval to a proposal by The Marine Mammal Center (TMMC) of Sausalito, California, to construct an endangered Hawaiian monk seal (Monachus schauinslandi) rehabilitation center on an acre of land at the Keahole, Kona facility. According to TMMC, it has already helped the National Marine Fisheries Service raise and release three monk seal pups, and its director of veterinary science, Dr. Frances Gulland, has been a member of the Hawaiian monk seal recovery team since 2001.
The NELHA-based center, if built, would rehabilitate sick or injured monk seals, feed undernourished seals from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and serve as a quarantine/holding area for seals awaiting translocation. TMMC proposes to initially construct three pools with a holding capacity of nine animals, as well as a laboratory, a food prep room, and an office.
At the NELHA board’s October meeting, member Patricia Cooper, representing the University of Hawai`i, voiced her concerns about the board’s potential liability should seals die at the facility, citing an incident in which a veterinarian working with the university’s Hawai`i Institute of Marine Biology nearly went to jail when seals died while being studied.
Local monk seal expert Lloyd Lowry, who also serves on the Marine Mammal Commission, said that the rehab center is totally different from research and if properly permitted, the NELHA board would have no liability if seals died at the facility.
NMFS’ Jeff Walters added that the state is in dire need of such a facility, noting that the Waikiki Aquarium is struggling to care for KP2, a rescued Hawaiian monk seal returned to captivity because it is going blind. If and when the NELHA facility is built, Walters said it would start housing seals as soon as possible.
“We’re really in a tough fix,” he said.
Bucks for Birds: In late October, President Barack Obama signed the 2010 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, which includes $3 million for Hawaiian bird conservation. According to George Wallace, the American Bird Conservancy’s vice president for oceans and islands and head of the organization’s Hawai`i program, said the bill marks an important beginning. “[I]t is a bold move in the right direction and will go a long way to help species in peril such as the palila and Maui parrotbill,” he said in a press release.
According to the ABC, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will spend the $3 million developing a comprehensive conservation strategy for endangered and threatened Hawaiian birds, hiring staff, and implementing on-the-ground projects to recover the birds. If the FWS gets its way, that strategy will cover the `akikiki (Oreomystis bairdi) and `akeke`e (Loxops caeruleirostris). In late September, the FWS proposed adding the `akikiki and `akeke`e – both found only on Kaua`i – to the endangered species list, which already includes 31 endemic Hawaiian birds. The `akikiki population has declined from 7,000 birds in 1970 to fewer than 1,400 in 2007. The `akeke`e population has also taken a nosedive, dropping from 8,000 birds in 2000 to 5,700 in 2005, to fewer than 3,500 in 2007, according to ABC.
A final decision on the proposed listings will be made in about a year, after comments are reviewed.