When Maui community members noticed a yearling male Hawaiian monk seal losing significant weight and becoming lethargic, they sounded the alarm.
“The community called in through the hotline and let us know that his body conditioning wasn't looking too good, and it was really a matter of four weeks that we saw him thin down quite a bit," said Frankie Koethe, the Hawaiian monk seal recovery coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"You can see it in the shape of his body. Monks usually should be pretty plump, and he was really showing some thinning and we could see his ribs and bones when he was breathing,” Koethe said.
She said the seal, known as RS52, also became extremely lethargic. He was born last year on Lānaʻi.
NOAA works to protect the highly endangered species. In the case of RS52, that meant taking immediate action.
With the help of volunteers and partner agencies, staff located the seal.
“Hawaiian monk seals already are very vulnerable, and at a young age like RS52 who's only just a year old, they're even more vulnerable, and it was really because of the community, we could get RS52 the care he needed and transfer him over to the Marine Mammal Center’s Ke Kai Ola Monk Seal Hospital in Kona,” Koethe explained.
The seal got a ride aboard a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter to the Hawaiʻi Island facility. There, RS52 is undergoing testing to determine the best care for his recovery.
“The end result will hopefully be a happy one, where we're releasing him and he can go back to being a wild seal, doing his thing,” she said.
With fewer than 2,000 Hawaiian monk seals left living in the state, Koethe said ensuring their health is critical.
“Every individual seal is so important for the recovery of the population. There's only 1,600 left. And so when we're looking at recovery of the species, we're especially looking at our young seals, who can play a major part in the recovery and live a long life.”
That work is paying off.
“Since 2013, we've had about a 2% to 3% increase in the population per year," she said.
Koethe said that’s in large part because of interventions like RS52’s with the help of NOAA’s partner agencies like the Marine Mammal Center, the Department of Land and Natural Resources, and community volunteers.
“About 30% of the population growth is because of the interventions we've done with NOAA Fisheries,” she said.
Monk seal sightings can be reported to the NOAA Marine Wildlife Hotline at (888) 256-9840.
