Hawaii smallest Island

The Hawaiian Monk Seal Population

NWHI (Northwestern Hawaiian Islands), the oldest and smallest geological archipelago of Hawaii, stretch approximately 2,000 kilometres from the island of Nihoa in the south-east to the Kure Atoll in the north-west. Among the 8 main archipelagoes and atols are:: The Nihoa and Mokumanamana (Necker) Isles, French frigate shoals, Laysan and Lisianski Isles, Pearl and Hermes Reef, Midway and Kure Atolle.

Like Hawaii Island, these vulcanic isles have been immersed and extinct over the years. Recently, several French frigate shoals have seen several small island shrink or disappear, causing some monks to lose their shelter. Currently, the NWHI provides 80 km (50 miles) of coastal habitats to assist the nuclear populations of Hawaii' black seabirds (compared to 2,300 km (1,429 miles) on the major isles of Hawaii).

Those extreme isolated, low-lying island supports approx. 80-90 percent of the black seal populations. The historical use of the NWHI by Bawaiian monks is not fully known. Populations and distributions of fish throughout the entire archipelago have probably varied over the years in reaction to changes in island sizes and habitats.

After an intensive search for food in the 19th century (sealers, crew of destroyed ships, sea bird droppings for fertilizers, mining and plum poachers), the populations of monks' seals were greatly reduced. During the early 1900s, after a phase of gradual recuperation, widespread impoverishment of this type in some sites was probably due to man-made disturbances by US or US Coast Guard activity.

A further significant decrease in the number of specimens persisted in the 70s, which resulted in the US endangered Species Act 1976 classifying the specimens as threatened. After a number of gradual protection measures, the NWHI was declared a NWHI Natural Heritage Site in 2006 and declared a PapahÄnaumokuÄkea Marine Natural Heritage Site in 2007.

Populations (including puppies) for each of the 8 NWHI, Nihoa and Mokumanamana (Necker) Islands, are between 50 and 250 cats. Although the NWHI are different in demographics, the seal that inhabit the NWHI are not insulated from the MHIs. A number of black seal move between the sub-populations and herd structural genetics suggest that the whole populations consist of a one herd.

While there is little in the way of migrating between the archipelago, each NWHI sub-population is semi-isolated with unprecedented environmental impacts and circumstances affecting the viability of the black seal. The overall mortality rate between the isles varies, although the overall state of the bodies of fur seals throughout the NWHI indicates that there is little chance of successful outbreak. In the NWHI, the immediate rivalry for preys with other major preys and the wealth of other top carnivores, such as shark and jack s (trevally or ulua), should contribute to reduced nutritional outcomes.

NWHI seals' relatively bad constitution restricts their capacity to combat periodontal infection and recuperate from injuries (shark-bite, masculine aggression). Flocks of French frigates, formerly the biggest breeding site in the NWHI, are currently suffering a sharp drop due to a high proportion of sharks in lactating and weaning puppies.

In this subpopulation, the disappearance of young seal has been a key contributor to biodiversity declines for over a decade. 2. In addition, seal injuries and the large amount of sea waste that is flushed on land or caught on the NWHI reef can cause death.

One of the main concerns is the continued decrease in the NWHI black seals populations. Current work is focused on conserving natural and human resource to combat critical elements that promote the restoration of the MTA. Drastic changes in the dispersal of the species of monks in Hawaii, projected by different local bees. Physical proliferation of Hwaiian black crab seabirds.

Possible impact of sea-level increase on the land -based habitat of vulnerable and indigenous mega fauna in the northwestern Hawaii. Time and space variations of the age-specific survivability rate of a long-lived adult species, the species known as the Hwaiian Black seal. Non-invasive measurement of glucocorticoids and hormones in free-range Hwaiian crayfish.

Replicative samples of the Bawaiian Monkseal.