Hanauma Talks Webinar: Meet Your Neighbor Island Hawaiian Monk Seal Recovery Program
Meet your Hawaiian monk seal response coordinators on Kauaʻi and Maui. Learn about their work and the challenges they face regarding human and monk seal interactions and their management efforts to recover the endangered species.
About
Presented by Nicole Davis & Jamie Thomton, NOAA Marine Mammal Response Network Island Coordinators for Maui Nui and Kaua‘i, respectively.
Webinar Overview
Monk seals in the main Hawaiian islands are known to move around their home island and often travel between islands. Hawaiian monk seal pups that are born in the main Hawaiian islands quickly become desensitized to humans. Over time, these seals can peacefully coexist with people and share the beaches and nearshore waters with Hawai‘i residents and visitors.
But the ability of a seal to eventually coexist with humans relies heavily on people and the choices they make. This applies even on the neighbor islands with fewer people, such as the islands of Maui and Kaua‘i, which have a combined human population that is less than one quarter of the population on O‘ahu. Being born in a popular area or interacting with people at a young impressionable age can shape a seal’s behavior around people, for better or worse.
The monk seal recovery programs on Kaua‘i and Maui have addressed these challenging human/seal interaction issues in several ways, and the lessons learned have helped NOAA managers and scientists in decision-making processes on all the main Hawaiian islands.
The talk will begin approximately at 6:30 p.m. and will end at 7:30 p.m. on WebEx. A short question and answer session will follow the talk.
Register for Webinar
- Email: hbaynews@hawaii.edu