Reply to "Save the Hawaii's Monk Seals"

All this is very disturbing. I agree with Vicky, we need to shift in the other direction. I also keep reading about a lot of cruelty to all sorts of animals by humans.

I found quite a bit of information about the monk seals here:


http://earthtrust.org/wlcurric/seals.html

In recent years, commercial fishing has been promoted around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Entanglement of monk seals in fishing nets and lines has been reported to have occurred somewhat frequently. Some researchers claim that because monk seals are curious and playful by nature that they may be "attracted" to the fishing gear and unfortunately become entangled in the process. There have also been several reports of fishermen, who when are unable to untangle the seals from their nets or longlines, harm or kill them as they eat the bait on their hooks. Therefore, it seems that regulating the types and quantity of fishing that are permitted in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands could be important to the seal's survival. Not only do non-selective types of fishing gear such as driftnets, gill nets and longlines pose a direct threat to the seals, but, the indirect effects of removing too much of the seal's food organisms from the reefs and waters of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands is not known. Overfishing is thought to have been the primary cause for the extinction of the Caribbean monk seal. Let us hope that the future of the Hawaiian monk seal will be better secured through better fisheries management.