1989 when the Fish and Wildlife Service adopted the new Florida 

 Manatee Recovery Plan, the Service's support for some of the 

 Plan's most important research and management tasks actually 

 declined in 1989. Unfortunately, this happened at a time when 

 additional support was most sorely needed. On a more positive 

 note, the Florida Department of Natural Resources and the Florida 

 Governor and Cabinet took aggressive action to meet the State's 

 responsibilities under the new Recovery Plan and to substantially 

 strengthen the effectiveness of its manatee protection efforts. 

 The Commission believes that the actions identified in the 

 Revised Recovery Program are appropriate and needed. It views 

 the establishment of long-term commitments to levels of funding 

 and personnel adeguate to address these needs to be the most 

 pressing manatee issue before Congress and the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service in 1990. 



Hawaiian Monk Seal (Monachus schauinslandi) 



Hawaiian monk seals occur only in the Hawaiian Islands. 

 Their distribution is limited almost entirely to the 1,100-mile 

 chain of small, mostly uninhabited islets and atolls in the 

 northwest Hawaiian Islands. A few individuals, however, have 

 been seen in recent years around Kauai, the westernmost of the 

 main Islands. 



Harassment and over-exploitation by sealers during the 19th 

 century brought the species close to extinction. The first 

 systematic counts of animals were made in the 1950s, at which 

 time the population was thought to be increasing. In subseguent 

 years, the number of seals declined. Counts of animals in 1983 

 were roughly half the number counted in 1958. More recently 

 there have been some encouraging signs that the population size 

 may be increasing. Counts in 1987 and 1988 suggest that the 

 number of births and the total number of animals on island 

 beaches are greater than observed in 1983. It is difficult to 

 determine if that trend is continuing because funding limitations 

 precluded comparable sampling in 1989. There are estimated to be 

 about 1,500 animals. The species is listed as endangered under 

 the Endangered Species Act and as depleted under the Marine 

 Mammal Protection Act. 



Sandy beaches in the northwest Hawaiian Islands are used for 

 pupping, nursing, and resting. Shallow waters surrounding the 

 beaches, including lagoons, reef flats, and seaward slopes atop 

 the submerged volcanic cones that form the chain, are essential 

 feeding and mating areas. In 1987, the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service, the Federal agency with lead responsibility for research 

 and management concerning monk seals, designated the beaches, 

 lagoons, and coastal waters out to a depth of 10 fathoms around 

 most of the northwest Hawaiian Islands as critical habitat for 

 monk seals under the Endangered Species Act. In 1988, at the 



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