April 2023 Update
MONTHLY HMAR UPDATE: April 2023
HMAR UPDATE: APRIL 2023
April was Earth Month and we had a pup born on Kaimana Beach so it has been busy busy busy! Read on for more information!
Number of Contacts Made to HMAR Hotlines in April 2023 – 971 (about 33 a day)
This was broken down as 738 contacts for Hawaiian monk seals, 156 for sea turtles, 17 for seabirds, and about 60 other contacts unrelated to the protected species we work with.
Number of Field Support Actions Conducted in April 2023 – 290 (about 10 a day)
This was broken down as 83 actions on the east side of the island, 65 on the west side, 5 on the north side, and 137 in the southeast area of the island.
We had two Hawaiian monk seal pups born in April! On the 2nd of the month on an offshore island, PO4 was born. Our fourth pup being born in April was definitely earlier than we expected but we’re so excited to be adding new pups to our Oʻahu family! On April 14th, PO5 was born! If you haven’t seen us on our social media yet - RK96 “Kaʻiwi” gave birth to her fifth pup (and the 5th pup on Oʻahu of 2023) on Kaimana Beach in Waikīkī. Since then, we and our partners (NOAA, Ocean Safety, DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement (DOCARE), DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR), DLNR Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR), and Honolulu Police Department have been working together to manage a larger perimeter than usual to ensure human and seal safety. We have been on the beach 14 hours each day since birth and will continue to be for the foreseeable future! PO5 will also be gifted a name by Waikīkī Elementary School in the coming weeks and we’ll announce that on our social media.
Number of Rescues, Interventions, Stranding Responses and Escalated Field Actions in April 2023 – 19
This was broken down as 7 operations on the east side, 6 on the west side, 2 on the north side, and 4 in the southeast side of the island. These escalated activities included 10 operations for sea turtles, 7 operations for seabirds, and 2 operations for Hawaiian monk seals.
Here are a couple of highlights from these operations.
At the end of April we received a call while some of our team was on the North Shore. An adult turtle was on the beach at Laniakea Beach
with a large hook in its right fore flipper. Our team was able to be there in a matter of minutes due to their close proximity. The turtle was basking on the beach and our team was able to capture the animal, assess its condition, and examine the hook. The ulua hook had about 12 inches of line which was thankfully not entangled around the animal. The hook had gone completely through the flipper and the barb was on the other side. The sea turtle was otherwise in good body condition and appeared healthy. This meant that by using a pair of bolt cutters we were able to cut the hook point and barb end and remove the rest of the hook with the line attached. The turtle was very strong and active (it actually broke our bin that it was contained in) and was released immediately after!
We also had an injured brown booby rescue at Baby Makapuʻu Beach. The bird was sitting on the rocks creating a tide pool with a drooping
wing. The tide was quickly coming in and the bird was continuing to lose its balance and almost fall into the water. Our team was able to respond and carefully retrieve the bird and assess its condition. It had very high energy levels and tried to escape capture, but without working wings it didn't have much success. We were able to gently capture this beautiful seabird and transport it to our partners at Feather and Fur Animal Hospital in Kailua for veterinary support.
Remember, if you see a marine protected animal of concern, please do not attempt to intervene. This can be dangerous for you, can result in further problems for the animal, does not allow us to conduct a proper assessment and examination of the animal, and likely constitutes a violation of federal and state laws. What is most important is that you call the statewide marine animal hotline at (888) 256-9840 as quickly as possible, provide photos, and detailed GPS or location information. Your quick and detailed contact will allow us to determine the best action to take and allows us to dispatch trained and permitted responders as needed.
Marine Debris - New Programs and Projects!
Last month we dove 4 times and collected 2,275 feet of monofilament and 110 animal hazards that pose an injury or death threat to Hawaiian monk seals, sea turtles, and seabirds. During these dives we cleared about 6.5 acres of underwater habitat!
Last month we were thrilled that we received a contract from the State of Hawaiʻi DLNR Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) to be their
designated partner for their Marine Debris Rapid Response program on Oʻahu. Every month we dive all around Oʻahu's nearshore waters to collect underwater entanglement hazards. This contract will expand our Marine Debris Program to also include debris on land including large derelict nets on shore and at sea! We’re happy we’re able to continue to grow our partnership with the State of Hawaiʻi and to have new opportunities to support the health of Oʻahu's ocean ecosystem.
Number of People Reached Through Face to Face Outreach and Education in April 2023 - 2,801
April was Earth Month! Our Education team was extremely busy with four events over the course of two weekends. During Earth week we talked with the public about the dangers of plastic pollution and derelict fishing gear for Hawaiʻi's marine protected species. Over the course of those four events we talked to almost 1,000 people! We also reached an additional 1,800 people through outreach conducted during our ongoing field response, rescue, and other support activity.
Additional News & Updates
This month we hired two new staff positions. Cameron Aroz is our new Operations Support Technician. Cam
was an HMAR intern earlier this semester and in the middle of her internship we scooped her up and brought her onto our staff team. She is a graduate of University of Oregon with a degree in Multidisciplinary Science with a Marine Concentration. Jace Reinken was also hired as a Marine Support Technician. Jace was an HMAR intern in the summer of 2022 and graduated from UH Mānoa last fall. We are so excited to have both Jace and Cam joining the HMAR team, and if you see them in the field, be sure to say hello!
This month we also officially began our offshore islands sea turtle nest surveys for the 2023 season. Our team will be using our kayaks and our Rescue 1 vessel to access these islands to search for nesting indicators. We’ll be tracking these potential nesting sites for our partners at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Pacific Islands Coastal Program..
As a reminder - if youʻre interested in volunteering with us please go to HERE. Our next new volunteer orientation is on Saturday May 20th so there is still time to apply and get a seat in upcoming training. If you can’t volunteer we still could use your help. Please go HERE to give your financial support so we can continue our important work.
Mahalo for your support!
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WHAT DO THESE NUMBERS MEAN?
Number of Calls - What does this mean? These are calls our hotline operators answer about any species in any situation. Whether it is a monk seal on the beach, a sea turtle of concern in the water, or a seabird that needs help. HMAR answers the calls that are made to the NOAA’s marine wildlife number for Oʻahu and Molokai and we take calls from the public, from the police, fire department, Ocean Safety as well as State of Hawaii agencies. Any call that comes into our hotline is reported here. Some calls result in a field response but many are valuable for animal sightings information or other data that can assist in research. Since our start in 2016, we’ve handled over 58,000 hotline contacts.
Number of Field Support Actions - What does this mean? This is when HMAR sends volunteer or staff resources into the field to perform a variety of actions in support of marine protected animals including Hawaiian monk seals, sea turtles, sea birds, dolphins, and whales. Since our start in 2016, we have had volunteers or staff in the field over 25,000 times.
Number of Rescues, Interventions, Stranding Responses and Escalated Field Actions - What does this mean? This number includes any field response that goes above and beyond a typical resting monk seal response. This includes responding to a seal of concern, an entangled, hooked, or injured sea turtle, a seabird in need of medical support, and other situations. Since 2016, we have performed over 2,145 of these operations.
Marine Debris Work - Each week our marine debris team removes underwater entanglement hazards (net, line, hooks) from high fishing pressure areas to reduce animal entanglements, hookings, injuries and death of protected marine animals. Since we started our underwater removal activities, our Marine Debris Program (MDP) has removed more than 4,300 animal hazards, cleaned over 270 acres of underwater habitat, and we have collected many MILES of monofilament fishing line. Taking all of this debris out of underwater habitat helps save Hawaiian monk seals, sea turtles, and seabirds.
Number of People Reached through Face to Face Outreach - What does this mean? HMAR’s different program activities put our volunteers and staff in direct contact with Hawaii’s residents and visitors. Educating people about Hawaii’s marine protected species and our ocean ecosystem is one of our highest priorities and has an important impact on reducing threats. This number includes outreach done on the beaches as well as the work our Education and Engagement team does going to classes and community outreach events. Since our start we’ve reached over 303,000 people.
Thank you for your continued support!
March 2023 Update
MONTHLY HMAR UPDATE: March 2023
March was the month of turtles! We responded to quite a few sea turtles throughout the course of the month. Read on to learn more!
Number of Contacts Made to HMAR Hotlines in March 2023 – 1,274 (about 43 a day)
In March there were a total of 1,274 contact made to our hotlines on Oʻahu. 979 of those were related to Hawaiian monk seals, 198 were related to sea turtles, 17 were related to seabirds, and 80 contacts were made concerning other topics.
Number of Field Support Actions Conducted in March 2023 – 385 (about 13 a day)
Welcome to the world PO2 and PO3! That’s right, we have two new Hawaiian monk seal pups on Oʻahu! PO2 was born at the end of
February, but we didn’t want to announce the birth in our last monthly update and instead held off until more time had passed! PO2 was born February 23rd on the north shore of Oʻahu - mom Lei Ola (RH48) is also a first timer this year! So far everything has been going well! PO2 was officially given her name at the end of March by Hau'ula Elementary School. We would like to introduce you all to Ho'omau Lehua - meaning the enduring flower of the ʻŌhiʻa tree! Check out our recent social media post for more info about PO2ʻs name!
PO3 was born on March 23rd on an offshore island! So far mom and pup seem to be doing well and we are excited to see how things keep going for the pair. We should be having a number of other pups born on Oʻahu this year and we’re excited to keep the updates coming for you all.
Number of Rescues, Interventions, Stranding Responses and Escalated Field Actions in March 2023 – 27 (about one every day)
On March 15th we received a call from a concerned member of the public about a downed brown booby at Alan Davis beach. Once our team arrived on site the bird appeared to have a fishing hook embedded in its right wing. We were able to capture the bird and transport it to Feather and Fur animal hospital where it was further evaluated by veterinarians.
On the 26th of March we received a call from two paddle boarders on the Haleiwa River. They had found a turtle with rope wrapped around
its front flipper and extending to a nearby tree. Our team got prepped with kayaks to transport the turtle down the river. We were lucky that Tsue’s Farm let us launch our kayaks from their dock to retrieve the turtle. Unfortunately by the time we arrived someone had cut the turtle loose from the tree which made our job a little more difficult. The turtle was slowly swimming in the river, actively diving and moving around, but we could clearly see the rope entanglement and floater that the animal was carrying. Eventually we were able to use a net to retrieve the turtle and transport her down the river to our truck. Once we had her on dry land we saw that not only did he have the rope entanglement but she also had fishing line tightly wrapped around both front flippers - so she needed to see a veterinarian. So we made the journey to NOAA for her evaluation. We recently found out that she has been transported to our partner on Maui for further care! We hope to have more updates for you all in the coming weeks!
We also had two rescues of sea turtles at the HECO plant this month! Our first response was to a turtle with line wrapped tightly around its left front flipper. The flipper appeared swollen but we didn’t see any sign of dead tissue, however the tightness of the line led us to decide to bring the turtle to a veterinarian for further examination. This turtle is now receiving further care on Maui as well. Our second HECO turtle response happened a few days later. The turtle was inside their intake pipe, thankfully the team at the plant was able to get the turtle out of the pipe and we could assess the animal. Thankfully the turtle was active, and in good body condition. We decided to release the turtle a ways down the road so it wouldn’t return to the intake pipe. The second we released the turtle onto the sand it made a beeline for the water and swam off!
Marine Debris - Great March Results
This month our MDP team completed three dives. Over these three dives we cleaned up a total of 27 pounds of debris over 5.2 acres. This
consisted of 2,077 feet of monofilament line, and 59 animal hazards. In addition to our cleanups we also announced our upcoming BEAT Debris contest! From April 1 to July 31st if you submit your debris report to h-mar.org/debrisreport you can be entered to win a dive shop gift card. Remember you can fill out a report no matter which island you live on! For more info check our social channels and h-mar.org/beatdebris.
Number of People Reached Through Face to Face Outreach and Education in March 2023 - 1,603 people
March was a continuation of all our typical education presentations - but we are starting to prepare for the Super Bowl of Environmentalism: Earth Day. April is going to be a whirlwind for our team. With 4 HUGE events over the course of a week we’ll be busy busy busy. If you want to come see us while weʻre out an about, keep an eye on our Instagram stories!
Additional News & Updates
We had our second volunteer class of 2023 in March. We had about 15 people go through training this month and they have all since passed their exams! If you are interested in joining our volunteer team you can submit an application at h-mar.org/application. You can participate in our monk seal, marine debris, education or hotline programs! We will be having our next orientation on May 20th, 2023!
As always, we can’t do the work we do without all of you! We rely heavily on donations to pay for gas, supplies, insurance, rent, truck maintenance, and all the other things we need to do our work. Marine animal response, rescue, and education is very rewarding but not inexpensive. If you want to support us, please donate or consider volunteering HERE, and every dollar helps. Mahalo for your support. Please check back with us for next month’s update!
Mahalo for your support!
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WHAT DO THESE NUMBERS MEAN?
Number of Calls - What does this mean? These are calls our hotline operators answer about any species in any situation. Whether it is a monk seal on the beach, a sea turtle of concern in the water, or a seabird that needs help. HMAR answers the calls that are made to the NOAA’s marine wildlife number for Oʻahu and Molokai and we take calls from the public, from the police, fire department, Ocean Safety as well as State of Hawaii agencies. Any call that comes into our hotline is reported here. Some calls result in a field response but many are valuable for animal sightings information or other data that can assist in research. Since our start in 2016, we’ve handled over 58,000 hotline contacts.
Number of Field Support Actions - What does this mean? This is when HMAR sends volunteer or staff resources into the field to perform a variety of actions in support of marine protected animals including Hawaiian monk seals, sea turtles, sea birds, dolphins, and whales. Since our start in 2016, we have had volunteers or staff in the field over 25,000 times.
Number of Rescues, Interventions, Stranding Responses and Escalated Field Actions - What does this mean? This number includes any field response that goes above and beyond a typical resting monk seal response. This includes responding to a seal of concern, an entangled, hooked, or injured sea turtle, a seabird in need of medical support, and other situations. Since 2016, we have performed over 2,145 of these operations.
Marine Debris Work - Each week our marine debris team removes underwater entanglement hazards (net, line, hooks) from high fishing pressure areas to reduce animal entanglements, hookings, injuries and death of protected marine animals. Since we started our underwater removal activities, our Marine Debris Program (MDP) has removed more than 4,300 animal hazards, cleaned over 270 acres of underwater habitat, and we have collected many MILES of monofilament fishing line. Taking all of this debris out of underwater habitat helps save Hawaiian monk seals, sea turtles, and seabirds.
Number of People Reached through Face to Face Outreach - What does this mean? HMAR’s different program activities put our volunteers and staff in direct contact with Hawaii’s residents and visitors. Educating people about Hawaii’s marine protected species and our ocean ecosystem is one of our highest priorities and has an important impact on reducing threats. This number includes outreach done on the beaches as well as the work our Education and Engagement team does going to classes and community outreach events. Since our start we’ve reached over 303,000 people.
Thank you for your continued support!
February 2023 Update
MONTHLY HMAR UPDATE: February 2023
February was full of pups, albatross chicks and so much more. Read on to learn all about our busy month!
Number of Contacts Made to HMAR Hotlines in February 2023 – 1,125 (about 40 a day)
These hotline contacts were broken out as 1,011 for Hawaiian monk seals, 97 for sea turtles, and 17 for seabirds. Keep up the great work HMAR hotline operators!
Number of Field Support Actions Conducted in February 2023 – 360 (about 13 a day)
HMAR volunteers or staff members were deployed into the field to conduct a variety of protected marine animal support functions 360 times in February. That was broken out as 1 instance in the north part of Oʻahu, 189 times in the east, 30 times in the south, 140 times on the west side of Oʻahu, and once on Molokai.
It’s almost time for our wedge tailed shearwaters to return to their burrows for the beginning of nesting season. Before their return we wanted to make some improvements to the symbolic fencing at our Kailua Colony! We expanded the fence boundaries to allow more room for the naupaka and native plants to grow as well as removed some large debris and invasive species (see picture left). We hope to be able to continue making these changes over the next few years as the colony grows further.
Uʻi update. Little PO1 isn’t so little anymore! As you may recall from our social media posts, the first
Hawaiian monk seal born in the main Hawaiian Islands this year, Uʻi mea aloa (Uʻi for short and meaning “beautiful survivor” in Hawaiian) has rounded the corner on week 4 and Uʻi is getting bigger and stronger every day (see picture right)! Since this is Kaimana’s first viable pup we arenʻt sure when exactly she’ll wean, but it will be sometime in the next few weeks. Until then we’ll be keeping an eye on the both of them as they wrap up their time together before Kaimana heads out to forage and prepare for her annual molt. We will still be with Uʻi once mom leaves to continue monitoring and make sure she continues to grow properly!
Thanks to our partnership with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the North Shore Community Land Trust, and the Turtle Bay Resort, the Laysan albatross colony we support on the north shore is continuing to thrive! It is one of our busiest years at the colony so far with 11 active nests with little chicks (see picture left). We are getting to the point where the chicks are not fully supervised by their parents and are beginning to become independent. In a few months these chicks will fledge and leave the nest for the first time to go out to sea and forage.
Number of Rescues, Interventions, Stranding Responses and Escalated Field Actions in February 2023 – 15 (about one every other day)
We conducted 15 escalated field actions, interventions, rescues or stranding responses in February. This included 4 in-field operations for Hawaiian monk seals, 6 operations for sea turtles, and 5 operations for seabirds.
HMAR staff conducted a rather unusual rescue of a brown booby last month. We received a call of a downed
seabird in a field at a ranch in Waimānalo, and upon arrival we saw that not only was the seabird in the middle of a field, it was near two large intimidating rodeo bulls. Getting assistance from the ranch owner we were escorted through the field and safely rescued the seabird. A quick assessment resulted in us transporting this seabird to get veterinary support from our partners at Feather and Fur Animal Hospital.
Towards the end of the month, we received multiple reports of a sea turtle on Laniakea Beach with a portion of the carapace missing (see picture left). This sea turtle had the moto tag MA260, and with this tag number we were able to determine this was a sea turtle that had suffered a boat strike that we rescued on O’ahu in January 2022 (see picture right). After our initial assessment when we originally rescued this animal, it was then moved to our partners on Maui for recovery. We were able to confirm that MA260 had been released on Maui after its treatment and she had found her way back to O’ahu and was exhibiting normal basking behavior! This is a great example of a success story in sea turtle conservation where government agencies, multiple NGOs, and members of the public work as a team to help our protected sea turtles.
If you ever spot a sea turtle with lettering on its carapace (shell) we encourage you to call HMAR on the marine animal response hotline at (888) 256-9840 and also complete the following online form to help keep track of our moto’d honu! Mahalo
Marine Debris - Great February Results
Even the crazy weather and winds this past month couldn’t keep our Marine Debris Program (MDP) team out of the water! Over the course of 4 dives we cleaned up fishing debris that is most dangerous to Hawaiʻi’s protected marine animals. We removed 1,776 feet of monofilament line, 39 animal hazards, and 21 hooks. All in all we cleaned about 6.5 acres last month. Join us on March 11th for a partner dive with Aaron’s Dive Shop and Nudi Wear at Point Panic from 8-12. More information on our social pages!
Number of People Reached Through Face to Face Outreach and Education in February 2023 - 1,970 people
Last month was busy for our Education & Engagement Department! We had our first big public outreach event of 2023 at Sea Life Park’s Keiki Day. Talking with all the locals and tourists is always such a great experience for our team to talk about Hawaiʻi’s marine protected species! March is ramping up to be very busy with lots of classroom outreach before Earth Month in April! If you’re interested in spreading the word about Hawaiʻi’s marine protected species, sign up to join our EE team HERE!
Additional News & Updates
It's that time of year again! We are recruiting for our summer internships! Weʻre currently looking for applicants for our Field Support and Outreach (FSO) program and our Media internship. FSO interns spend the majority of their time with our Hawaiian monk seals on the beach providing outreach to the public about this special species. These interns also have the potential to participate in rescues and work with Hawaiian monk seal mom and pup pairs. Our media internship is for anyone with a creative mind for conservation and is truly what you make of it! Some of our interns are photographers, some are writers or content creators - whatever your specialty, this internship is right for you if you're passionate about spreading conservation messaging! You can apply for both of these positions HERE.
In March we are having our second new volunteer orientation of the year! If you are interested in becoming a volunteer with us, now is the time to apply. Volunteering is a great way to become engaged with the community and learn more about Hawaiʻi’s marine protected species. To apply head over HERE to get started!
As always, we can’t do the work we do without all of you! We rely heavily on donations to pay for gas, supplies, insurance, rent, truck maintenance, and all the other things we need to do our work. Marine animal response, rescue, and education is very rewarding but not inexpensive. If you want to support us, please donate or consider volunteering HERE, and every dollar helps. Mahalo for your support. Please check back with us for next month’s update!
Mahalo for your support!
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WHAT DO THESE NUMBERS MEAN?
Number of Calls - What does this mean? These are calls our hotline operators answer about any species in any situation. Whether it is a monk seal on the beach, a sea turtle of concern in the water, or a seabird that needs help. HMAR answers the calls that are made to the NOAA’s marine wildlife number for Oʻahu and Molokai and we take calls from the public, from the police, fire department, Ocean Safety as well as State of Hawaii agencies. Any call that comes into our hotline is reported here. Some calls result in a field response but many are valuable for animal sightings information or other data that can assist in research. Since our start in 2016, we’ve handled over 57,000 hotline contacts.
Number of Field Support Actions - What does this mean? This is when HMAR sends volunteer or staff resources into the field to perform a variety of actions in support of marine protected animals including Hawaiian monk seals, sea turtles, sea birds, dolphins, and whales. Since our start in 2016, we have had volunteers or staff in the field over 24,500 times.
Number of Rescues, Interventions, Stranding Responses and Escalated Field Actions - What does this mean? This number includes any field response that goes above and beyond a typical resting monk seal response. This includes responding to a seal of concern, an entangled, hooked, or injured sea turtle, a seabird in need of medical support, and other situations. Since 2016, we have performed over 2,115 of these operations.
Marine Debris Work - Each week our marine debris team removes underwater entanglement hazards (net, line, hooks) from high fishing pressure areas to reduce animal entanglements, hookings, injuries and death of protected marine animals. Since we started our underwater removal activities, our Marine Debris Program (MDP) has removed more than 4,250 animal hazards, cleaned over 265 acres of underwater habitat, and we have collected many MILES of monofilament fishing line. Taking all of this debris out of underwater habitat helps save Hawaiian monk seals, sea turtles, and seabirds.
Number of People Reached through Face to Face Outreach - What does this mean? HMAR’s different program activities put our volunteers and staff in direct contact with Hawaii’s residents and visitors. Educating people about Hawaii’s marine protected species and our ocean ecosystem is one of our highest priorities and has an important impact on reducing threats. This number includes outreach done on the beaches as well as the work our Education and Engagement team does going to classes and community outreach events. Since our start we’ve reached over 302,000 people.
Thank you for your continued support!
January 2023 Update
MONTHLY HMAR UPDATE: January 2023
Happy New Year to all! Hard to believe we’re already a month into 2023. January kept us busy, so read on for some updates from HMAR!
Number of Contacts Made to HMAR Hotlines in January 2023 – 902 (about 30 a day)
These hotline contacts were broken out as 748 Hawaiian monk seal related, 126 sea turtle related, and 28 seabird related. Keep up the great work HMAR hotline operators!
Number of Field Support Actions in January 2023 – 263 (about 9 a day)
Our actions in the field last month were broken out as 251 Hawaiian monk seal related, 9 sea turtle related, and 3 seabird related. We responded in the field on the north side of Oʻahu 5 times, 50 times on the east side, 31 times on the south side, and 177 times on the west side of Oʻahu.
Last month was also busy with our field monitoring work at the albatross colony on the north shore! Every year, we help manage and monitor a colony of Laysan albatross on the North Shore of O’ahu and this month we had our first chicks hatch (see picture left). These chicks will be on or near the nests that their parents built until June or early July. Until then they will rely on their parents to bring them food. For now, the parents are rotating staying with the chick on the nest but in the next few weeks they will begin to stagger their timing more and more, leaving the chick to fend for itself for longer and longer periods of time before they fledge and leave the nest for the first time to find food for themselves!
And there have been more babies born in January. We now have our first Hawaiian monk seal pup of the year (designated as PO1) on Oʻahu (see picture right)! At this time we are not releasing any additional information about the pup, its mom or the location of the animals. But, what we can tell you is that the seals seem to be doing well, and we will update you all with more information in the next few weeks so keep your eyes out for that!
In other monk seal news, we’ve gotten reports of R604, who is an adult female that is visiting Oʻahu from Kauaʻi. She was spotted earlier this month with a softball sized injury to her shoulder - which we determined to be a cookie cutter shark bite (see picture left). Since that initial call we have gotten a few more observations from the public as well as photos that have helped us to determine that R604 is healing nicely. Cookie cutter shark bites are a very common occurrence with Hawaiian monk seals and are usually not life threatening. This is one of the many reasons why it is so important that if you see a seal, you call the hotline to let us know. You may have found a seal we are trying to locate and get more information on and we rely heavily on you all letting us know when we have seals out and about that may require a response. Thank you for your help!
Number of Rescues, Interventions, Stranding Responses and Escalated Field Actions Conducted in January 2023 – 13
This month was pretty calm in terms of rescues, interventions, stranding responses and escalated field actions. We had 1 Hawaiian monk seal escalated field action, 9 sea turtle stranding responses, and 3 seabird field responses. This is less activity than our regular month (good news!) and this happens from time to time. However, we did have one sea turtle intervention we wanted to share with you all. About mid-way through the month we got several calls about a sea turtle in Makaha (see picture right). This turtle looked to be in good body condition and was likely basking but we mounted a field response to assess the animal. Our response included visual observations as well as assessments of energy level, mobility, and vision to ensure that the sea turtle did not require further assistance. This turtle passed our assessments with flying colors and was re-released in the area. Hawaiian green sea turtles can bask, or rest, on beaches for up to 48 hours, or even longer sometimes, before we get more concerned for their well-being. However, if you ever see a turtle you’re concerned about, please give us a call. We can’t respond to injured or sick animals if we don’t know where they are and rely on public callers to let us know!
Our big escalated field action of the month was when Hawaiian monk seal RQ76 “Malama” returned to O’ahu (see picture left)! Malama was born in June to RH76 “Kala”. This was Kala’s first time giving birth. After weaning Malama and Kala were both noted as being noticeably thinner than average. After some monitoring, our partners at NOAA decided the best course of action was to retrieve Malama and transport her to Hawai’i Island for care at The Marine Mammal Center’s Ke Kai Ola (KKO) facility. RQ76 has been at KKO since August where they have been ensuring that she gains the weight she needs to survive on her own in the ocean. Since then she has gained 50 pounds and was given the “OK” for release at the end of January. Since her release we have been continuing to survey for her to monitor her progress in the wild! (Photo Credit: Marilynn Dunlap, NOAA Fisheries permit #24359)
Marine Debris - Great January Results
January was a productive month for our marine debris team. Our team completed 6 dives last month, cleaning just over 8 acres of underwater habitat used by Hawaiian monk seals and sea turtles. They collected 2,197 feet of monofilament line and 99 animal hazards! In addition we held a fitness test for new divers to join our team. Each one of our divers has to show their diving proficiency before they are able to join our team. We do this to ensure all our divers are safe while participating in our underwater clean-ups. This time 9 people passed their fitness test and are now able to join our MDP team. If you’re interested in becoming a volunteer member of our marine debris team you can sign up HERE!
Number of People Reached Through Face to Face Outreach and Education in January 2023 - 2,221 people
With the school year ramping back up again we are back to presentations at local schools. Over the past month we have led 8 presentations to classes around the island and on the mainland about sea turtles, marine debris and Hawaiian monk seals. We’re so excited for what the rest of the school year will bring! In February we are looking forward to working with Kahuku Elementary School to name Hawaiian monk seal pup “PO1” - so keep an eye out for that important announcement!
Additional News & Updates
This month was full of training! We started off with new interns who go through a training process before starting their semester with HMAR. Our Field Support & Outreach (FSO) interns are often the ones you see on the beaches with Oʻahu’s monk seals. This month we welcomed Ayla, Andrew, Cameron and Monty as new interns on the team who are joining our returning interns Sara and Alex! If you see them on the beach please be sure to say “Hi.” These interns also participated in a Rescue & Stranding Response training where they learned about the proper techniques and protocols for dealing with injured or stranded sea turtles, sea birds and monk seals!
We also had a new volunteer orientation. These volunteers could be going into any one of our programs - from Field Support & Outreach (FSO), to Education & Engagement (EE), Operations Support OSP) or Marine Debris (MDP). Our FSO volunteers go through a multi-part process to complete their training which includes a 6-hour classroom day followed by 3 field days and a final exam. Our goal is always that our new volunteers are well trained before we send them out on their own! All our other programs have a separate training process that prepares volunteers for their work. If you’re interested in becoming a volunteer we would love to have you join us! Head over HERE to learn more about our programs and to apply!
As always, we can’t do the work we do without all of you! We rely heavily on donations to pay for gas, supplies, insurance, rent, truck maintenance, and all the other things we need to do our work. Marine animal response, rescue, and education is very rewarding but not inexpensive. If you want to support us, please donate or consider volunteering HERE, and every dollar helps. Mahalo for your support during 2022. Please check back with us for monthly updates during 2023!
Mahalo for your support!
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WHAT DO THESE NUMBERS MEAN?
Number of Calls - What does this mean? These are calls our hotline operators answer about any species in any situation. Whether it is a monk seal on the beach, a sea turtle of concern in the water, or a seabird that needs help. HMAR answers the calls that are made to the NOAA’s marine wildlife number for Oahu and Molokai and we take calls from the public, from the police, fire department, Ocean Safety as well as State of Hawaii agencies. Any call that comes into our hotline is reported here. Some calls result in a field response but many are valuable for animal sightings information or other data that can assist in research. Since our start in 2016, we’ve handled over 56,000 hotline contacts.
Number of Field Support Actions - What does this mean? This is when HMAR sends volunteer or staff resources into the field to perform a variety of actions in support of marine protected animals including Hawaiian monk seals, sea turtles, sea birds, dolphins, and whales. Since our start in 2016, we have had volunteers or staff in the field over 24,000 times.
Number of Rescues, Interventions, Stranding Responses and Escalated Field Actions - What does this mean? This number includes any field response that goes above and beyond a typical resting monk seal response. This includes responding to a seal of concern, an entangled, hooked, or injured sea turtle, a seabird in need of medical support, and other situations. Since 2016, we have performed over 2,100 of these operations.
Marine Debris Work - Each week our marine debris team removes underwater entanglement hazards (net, line, hooks) from high fishing pressure areas to reduce animal entanglements, hookings, injuries and death of protected marine animals. Since we started our underwater removal activities, our Marine Debris Program (MDP) has removed more than 4,200 animal hazards, cleaned over 260 acres of underwater habitat, and we have collected many MILES of monofilament fishing line. Taking all of this debris out of underwater habitat helps save Hawaiian monk seals, sea turtles, and seabirds.
Number of People Reached through Face to Face Outreach - What does this mean? HMAR’s different program activities put our volunteers and staff in direct contact with Hawaii’s residents and visitors. Educating people about Hawaii’s marine protected species and our ocean ecosystem is one of our highest priorities and has an important impact on reducing threats. This number includes outreach done on the beaches as well as the work our Education and Engagement team does going to classes and community outreach events. Since our start we’ve reached over 300,000 people.