We individually identified 297 monk seals between 1988 and 2014 and recorded that 83 (28 percent) of these had at least one documented hooking or entanglement.
This project was designed to gather and synthesize information about the ecology of the seals within Iliamna Lake through a combination of aerial surveys, biological sampling, and ethnographic research.
Visual observations of individually identifiable monk seals associating onshore were used to estimate contact rates, assuming random mixing, and also to investigate contact patterns of different age and sex classes.
As Hawaiian monk seal population numbers continue to decline, outstanding fine-scale genetic questions require enhanced genotyping capacity of a rich archive of specimens.