Friday, October 26, 2012

Encountering Hawaiian Monk Seals in the water: your behavior as a swimmer, snorkeler, or diver makes a difference

As Hawaiian monk seals are increasingly seen at popular diving and snorkeling sites around Hawai‘i, it’s important that people understand the potential impacts of their actions when around these critically endangered animals.

The information below is being shared by NOAA Fisheries, out of concern for the well being of seals that are encountered at popular marine recreation sites. You can help by learning the guidelines, and sharing them with others. Our actions matter!



photo courtesy of Rick Long

Young seals may seek out human attention and attempt to interact with humans – including swimmers, divers, snorkelers and fishermen. Encouraging this behavior and these interactions may cause these young seals to lose their wild tendencies and become habituated to interacting with humans and fishing gear. Please follow the guidelines below when you are around seals.

Do not play with, pet, swim with, feed, or otherwise engage the seal. Seals encouraged to be “friendly,” ultimately will lose their ability to survive in the wild.

Guidelines:
• Do not feed the seal or discard bait or scraps into the water
• If a seal approaches you, ignore it and quickly move away from the seal or exit the water
• When spearfishing and/or wading remove fish as quickly as possible from the water
• Observe the seal from a respectful distance of at least 150 ft on land and in the water

It is important that everyone follow the guidelines because it only takes one person to interact with the seal (including making eye contact) to continue to perpetuate the seal’s undesirable behavior.

Furthermore, it’s very important to report to NOAA Fisheries, as soon as possible: every single time you encounter a monk seal.
On Maui: Nicole Davis, NOAA Fisheries Maui Marine Mammal Response Coordinator, (808) 292-2372
On Oahu: NOAA Fisheries Sightings Line, (808) 220-7802
On Kauai: NOAA Fisheries Kauai Monk Seal Response, (808) 651-7668
On Hawaii Island: NOAA Fisheries Hawaii Monk Seal Response, (808) 987-0765

Also, when reporting your seal sighting, note the interactions you or other divers may have with the seal.
• The kind of info to record, in addition to basic seal sighting information, includes things like:
• Did the seal approach you?
• Did you leave the seal or did it leave you?
• How long did it stick around?
• Did it touch or interact with any of your gear?
• Did it follow you or others?
• Did you try to deter it in any way?
...and so on.


Please keep seals alive and wild by following the guidelines above, spreading the word, and helping others to understand the importance of not interacting with seals in the water, and on land!

For more information, please visit NOAA Fisheries Service's Protected Resources Division Website, where you will find an engaging video, "Good Neighbors: How to Share Hawaii's Beaches with Endangered Hawaiian Monk Seals."


photo courtesy of Rick Long

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Hawaii Hotel Coastal Cleanup Challenge 2012


This year, we expanded the scope of the “hotel cleanup challenge” we had previously coordinated in the Ka’anapali region, to include hotels across the state, by providing general guidance and compiling the resources and materials they’d need, and making them readily available through our website

CORAL and the Ka’anapali Makai Watch program hosted a cleanup at Kahekili Beach Park, which was supported by nearby resort properties the Honua Kai and the Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas. Check out the previous blog post for a summary of that effort, and mahalo to all the community members and resort staff and guests who came out to volunteer that day!

We would like to thank all the properties on Maui and in West Hawai'i that participated in the Hawaii Hotel Coastal Cleanup Challenge – to date, the following properties have taken part: Aston Mahana at Ka’anapali, Aston at the Whaler on Ka’anapali Beach, Fairmont Kea Lani, Fairmont Orchid, Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, Four Seasons Resort Lanai at Manele Bay, Four Seasons Resort Lanai, The Lodge at Koele, Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, Honua Kai Condominium Association, Inc., Hualalai Resort, Hyatt Regency Maui Resort & Spa, Ka’anapali Beach Resort, Marriott Maui Ocean Club, Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas, Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, and the Wailea Beach Marriott Resort & Spa.

I would like to share a few photos, below, provided to us by the Fairmont Kea Lani cleanup team, and also an account of the event written by Kevin Gavagan, from the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea.

A beautiful morning swimbeach clean up day
by Kevin Gavagan, Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea

One bottle, one tennis ball, some hair bands, a piece of a broken sand toy, and several tourists using their stand up paddles backwards was all we could find. 40 volunteers showed up at the beach at 6:30 in the morning and after 2 hours of swimming and paddling  from Makena’s Puu Olai to the Kihei Boat ramp,  5 miles, and that’s all we had to show for the effort. We ran along that same coastline earlier in the week and found similar conditions on land and therefore decided to send our land crew of about 15 people over to Oneloa beach (Big Beach) to clean it up. They were able to come back with a more formidable load of litter which was catalogued and recorded for the data collection. At first glance I had the thought that we engaged a lot of effort with little result. As I thought more about it I was more than satisfied to report first hand that 5 miles of coast line largely developed with resorts and condominiums is certifiably clean of near shore line ocean debris, both on the land and in the sea. This did not just happen. All of these beaches are used extensively, primarily for recreation. There was a corner of my mind at least that thought with this much human interaction there would be some sign of a larger negative impact.  Humans equal waste and neglect. Well for 5 miles here in Honuaula that was not the case today. I thought of how each of these properties are cared for by landscaping crews, beach boys and the public at large, there is an obvious collective interest in maintaining the cleanliness of this shore line, and the evidence is our lack of data collected today. Often the tide of opinion sheds a negative light on this industry many of us work in, is it green, is it clean is a value we all wish to emulate in what we do or are involved in. Yes we still have to watch our run off and other issues that negatively effect our beautiful ocean resource, but as far as the state of cleanliness in our back yard today, makai loa ka kou. It was truly a good day.   

Mahalo for all the support 
Tyson Kubo for leading the Canoes and Na Wahine of the Kihei canoe club, 
Alissa Baptist, Pat Ware, Liz Foote of CORAL for organizing this event and the grinds, 
Housekeeping, you always send the biggest support crew, 
MUSA for the Kayaks and equipment, and 
Everyone who cared and had the time today! 

Photos of the Fairmont Kea Lani's team conducting the cleanup: