Hawaiian Monk Seal Recovery Plan Implementation ($5,700,000)
The requested funding would be used to implement the Hawaiian Monk Seal Recovery Plan.
The total population of critically endangered monk seals is approximately 1,200 individuals and the population is in rapid decline (4 percent a year over the past 20 years). The entire population of this seal species is within the United States, principally in the recently designated Papahanaumokuakea National Marine Monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Funding of $5,734,000 was appropriated in FY2009.
The recovery plan focuses on improving the survival rate of pups and juveniles, a critical step toward stabilizing the population of this important species. Factors in the decline of the Hawaiian monk sea include overfishing in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands; entanglement of seals in marine debris; predation by sharks; injuries and deaths of pups, juveniles, and some adult females by aggressive adult male monk seals; habitat modification and loss caused by human habitation on the main Hawaiian Islands; and disturbance by humans. Hawaiian monk seals, together with the critically endangered Mediterranean monk seal, are the last surviving species of the subfamily of tropical seals. Monk seals are also sometimes referred to as "living fossils" because, as the oldest living members of the pinniped order, they have remained virtually unchanged for 15 million years. We must take action now to prevent the extinction of this important species.
Recipient: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Protected Resources
1305 East-West Highway
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Why this is a good use of taxpayer dollars: The population of Hawaiian Monk Seals is in rapid decline. If something isn't done, the species will become extinct.
Recovery Benefits for Hawaii 
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Health Care Reform 
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