In the summer of 2000, a federal biologist was threatened with bodily harm in the middle of the night while on Hawaiian monk-seal watch at Po’ipu Beach Park. There also was a threat to kill or scare away the seal
In the summer of 2000, a federal biologist was threatened with bodily harm in the middle of the night while on Hawaiian monk-seal watch at Po’ipu Beach Park.
There also was a threat to kill or scare away the seal family resting on the beach, events that quickly put an end to the National Marine Fisheries Service practice of having biologists at the beach around the clock while the mother seal was occupying the beach with her newborn pup.
Knowing that mother seals often return to the same beach year after year when it’s time to give birth (the same has been found to be true of offspring), seal researchers anticipate that Po’ipu Beach Park could be turned into a monk seal research site again as early as next summer.
It’s speculated that the same mother seal chose the location for its nursery the past two summers.
Privately, an NMFS expert on endangered species expert wishes the mother seal would pick a different beach the next time she gives birth. Some south shore residents feel the same way.
Fueling the feelings is public knowledge that NMFS relocated monk seals from the unpopulated Northwestern Hawaiian Islands to the main Hawaiian Islands.
Clark confirmed that, between 1992 and 1994, 20 male monk seals were relocated to remote areas of the main islands, after researchers chronicled high mortality rates among young seals around the well-known birthing areas in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
One of the males has been observed near Po’ipu, but is not making that beach his home, officials said. None of the seals were deposited in or near any populated areas.
