The nearly six-week drama surrounding Rocky, the Hawaiian monk seal, and her newborn pup encapsulated the growing need for humans and endangered animals to safely coexist in Hawaii, particularly when it happens somewhere as popular as Kaimana Beach in Waikiki.
Monk seal advocates say not enough was done to protect the wild marine mammals from the beginning and that it has become clear that a 150-foot buffer around mom-and-pup pairs should be enacted and enforced — not just used as a recommendation.
What resulted was a dangerous encounter with a swimmer who was injured when Rocky lunged at her, followed by too many close calls.
“They could really have avoided everything when the pup was born if they had given her 150 full feet,” said monk seal advocate Melina Clark.
The pup was born July 9 at Kaimana Beach, a popular stretch of sand frequented by locals and visitors alike, fronting a hotel, with swimmers, surfers, paddlers — and spectators.
It was Rocky’s 14th pup and her second time pupping at Kaimana Beach, five years after the female monk seal became famous for unexpectedly choosing the busy beach to give birth in 2017. Most of the time Rocky had her offspring at her own birthplace, on Kauai.
As in 2017, officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration relocated her latest pup, Koalani, upon weaning to a more remote location where he can grow up with less human interaction.
After NOAA moved the pup Thursday night, state conservation officers concluded their “unprecedented” 24-hour watch and enforcement of a 150-foot buffer around the endangered monk seals, according to the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
“Ultimately, we determined that Koalani has the greatest chance for survival and living a normal life as a wild seal at a more remote location with significantly less people present,” said NOAA in a social media post. “His new home also offers a higher potential for interactions with other seals, including juvenile seals he can play with and learn from, which will foster his development.”
In late July, a 60-year-old woman from California swam laps off the beach while Rocky and her pup were in the water near the Natatorium — and the protective mother seal bit her, causing lacerations to her face, arm and back.
This was despite numerous signs set up, along with fencing, to warn people that mother monk seals can be aggressive and bite.
DLNR said the “incident highlighted the real risks facing both the animals and curious humans who intentionally or inadvertently got too close,” but the department did not fine the woman, concluding she did not provoke the incident.
NOAA recommended people choose another beach for swimming but that message did not seem to get through to the public.
The following weekend, videos surfaced of beachgoers, including a man holding a toddler and a boogie board, crowding Rocky and her pup in the water.
The city stepped up lifeguard patrols of Kaimana Beach but said that under the state Constitution it could not completely shut down the beach, as called for by some monk seal advocates. DLNR also said it has no legal authority to close off access to the ocean.
But starting Aug. 3, officers from DLNR’s Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement showed up to enforce a 150-foot cordon, both on land and in the water, around-the-clock at the site, as Rocky nursed Koalani and taught him the skills needed to survive.
More protections
Clark said that what happened at Kaimana Beach shows a need for a more timely and coordinated response in the future. She called for better laws along with enforcement for the protection of the endangered seals, which are Hawaii’s official state mammal.
Clark questioned where NOAA and DLNR were during the first three weeks of the pup’s birth.
She said she wrote a letter to Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s office a week prior to the incident with the swimmer, warning that the situation was getting out of hand.
“There was no presence down there for the first three-and-a-half weeks before that swimmer got bitten, and then the man was in the water with the toddler,” Clark said.
Volunteers from Hawaii Marine Animal Response, NOAA’s nonprofit partner, set up a boundary and signs, and conducted educational outreach, but have no enforcement authority.
When two other pups were born at Kaimana Beach, to Rocky in 2017 and to a monk seal known as Kaiwi in 2021, there was more of a presence by federal and state authorities, Clark said. This time, that seemed to be missing.
She returned Aug. 12 to check out the scene after DOCARE started its 24-hour watch and found the situation improved.
The shoreline at Kaimana Beach was not crowded with onlookers as Rocky and her pup swam in shallow water near the shore. But a handful of swimmers and surfers still entered the water and headed out into the ocean, and a volunteer hurried to move the 150-foot cordon as Rocky and Koalani swam from one side of the beach to another.
At the Hau Tree Lanai at Kaimana Beach Hotel, tables were full of brunchers, and two little girls climbed over a low dividing wall onto the restricted beach zone until their mother retrieved them.
Officers had to inform some coconut trimmers at Sans Souci nearby to observe the distance from Rocky and her pup in the water as they took a break in the cordoned-off zone.
Clark, who has volunteered for 15 years but is no longer officially with HMAR, said the situation can get stressful pretty quickly, especially for lone volunteers with no backup.
She was particularly concerned about the area around a rock jetty at the Diamond Head end of Kaimana Beach that separates the beach from the shoreline fronting the Sans Souci and Outrigger Canoe Club. Many people stood and watched from the jetty or put out fishing poles while the monk seals were present.
It needed more signage and monitoring to ensure those people moved back when mom and pup were nearby, according to Clark.
She also would have liked to have seen citations issued when people broached the 150-foot distance, which she said happened numerous times. That would have sent the message of how serious the situation was, and that there were consequences.
DLNR said no citations were issued at the conclusion of DOCARE’s watch.
DOCARE Chief Jason Redulla said several swimmers had to be shooed away upon getting too close to the seals, but that for the most part people were compliant when instructed to move out of the cordoned area.
When people harass, harm or touch a monk seal, it is considered a Class C felony under state law, punishable by imprisonment and fines, which have been issued in recent years.
DLNR said broaching the cordon around the seals at Kaimana Beach would have been considered “obstruction of a government operation,” which is a misdemeanor.
People don’t listen
Clark credited volunteers for their hard work, saying they are the boots on the ground and the ones who see what goes on from day to day, protecting a species that is “so fragile.”
She believes that going forward, the state should coordinate a quick response to pupping events, ideally with a liaison on the ground communicating with the public daily.
“There are some hard-working, hard-core volunteers who are there to make sure mom and pup are safe and the humans are safe,” she said, “but when it comes down to it, I know what they go through.”
Clark has heard and seen it all, from a woman feeding her cheeseburger to a monk seal to another who was getting ready to throw a tennis ball at one of the wild animals.
While most people are curious and many observe signs and warnings, there’s always a few who do not — and it’s evenly split between visitors and locals.
Some visitors have volunteered to keep watch once they learn about the seals, she said, while others simply say, “Yeah, yeah, I know,” and proceed to do whatever they want. A popular retort from locals is that they pay their taxes and can do what they want.
Dana Jones, executive director of the Hawaiian Monk Seal Preservation Ohana, said there were numerous calls and videos regarding Rocky and her pup that continued after the California woman was injured.
“We were very, very concerned there was going to be another incident because people were not listening,” she said.
Having overseen 200 volunteers, Jones, too, has had encounters with people who flout the guidelines.
Sometimes visitors, particularly at Ko Olina Resort, would say that because they were spending more than $400 a night for their hotel room, they should be able to do what they want.
“You have to have really good people skills to talk to somebody like that,” she said. “I prided ourselves on being well trained, to ask for their help instead of telling them what they can’t do.”
What people need to realize, Jones said, is that monk seals — particularly a protective mother — can move pretty quickly. For many, the action of swimming while a mother seal and pup are in the area is itself a form of provocation.
“No it’s not the law,” she said. “It’s just common sense.”
A fragile species
The Hawaiian monk seal, or Neomonachus schauinslandi, is one of the most endangered seal species in the world.
While the overall population had been declining for decades, NOAA marked a milestone in May when the monk seal population surpassed 1,500 for the first time in more than 20 years. The increase was due to hands-on conservation efforts.
Roughly two-thirds dwell at Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, but a growing number of monk seals — approaching 400 — are mating and pupping around the main Hawaiian islands.
The peak of monk seal pupping season, during spring and summer, is coming to a close. But pups can be born any time during the year.
Several other pups have been born on the neighbor islands without as much attention. On Oahu’s North Shore, a monk seal nicknamed “Right Spot” recently gave birth to pup PO9.
And there will be more pups, and potentially more interactions with humans to come as NOAA’s hard work pays off and Hawaii’s tourism industry further regains its footing.
The state Board of Land and Natural Resources initially had an item on its Aug. 12 agenda requesting approval via emergency rule-making procedures to adopt a new section under existing state law that would establish a 50-yard restricted zone around Hawaiian monk seals on state lands or in state waters.
But the item was withdrawn from the agenda prior to the meeting, with no explanation.
This was a disappointment to Clark and others who had already submitted testimony on the proposal.
Jones, whose group helped establish the 2010 law making the harassment or harm of a monk seal a Class C felony, said even a temporary emergency measure would help. To make a difference, the recommended distance from the seals needs to be law rather than just a guideline.
“It would set a precedence for the 2023 legislature,” she said. “We already have a few people in the Legislature who would support beefing up the law.”
DLNR said it is exploring strategies to prevent the endangered seals from becoming habituated to people and to keep humans from getting hurt in the future, but did not elaborate further.
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Monk Seal facts
>> Mother monk seals can be highly protective of their pups. The 150-foot distance from mom-pup pairs is recommended to reduce disturbance to the animals and increase safety for the public.
>> Disruptions have caused mothers and pups to become separated, resulting in a pup being abandoned. Toward the end of the nursing stage, an outside disruption can precipitate weaning.
>> To report monk seal sightings or injuries, call NOAA’s hotline at 888-256-9840.
>> One of the most endangered seal species in the world, protected under Hawaii law and the federal Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act.
>> Population estimate: about 1,570, roughly 1,200 in the NWHI, 400 in main Hawaiian islands.
>> Newborn monk seal pups are black, while weaned pups are dark gray to brown. Monk seal pups nurse for about five to seven weeks.
Source: NOAA Fisheries
