On my first look at Rabbit Island at 0709 I found a gang of three , in the Morning Glory, 30 ft left of 1BS. They would prove to be Sadie, Mikala, and Duke. Each would move down individually at mid day, and there was no observed interaction.
Tracy called at 1201 with the report of an animal at Sandy Beach. It just so happened that I was approaching Sandy Beach when the call came in so at 1204, I arrived to find Right Spot on the main beach, right in the middle of " the show" at Sandy Beach. I got her cordoned off and will be returning to recheck her shortly.
Colleen called at 1047 to report Rocky back home at Diamond Head. She was on the rock flats to the right of the showers.
Team Billand had a rare nobody/nowhere day.
Posse members Noelle & Josh were at Ka'ena Point on Saturday (3-6-10) doing the Whale Count, but managed to spend alittle quality time with Ka'ena, Kerby and Benny.
Right Spot departed Sandy Beach of her own volition at 1920
Sadie, Mikala, and Duke
DukeRight SpotRocky

Great shot of Ka'enaKerby and BennyKerby looking pretty darn cute

My first pass through the SE quadrant was a bust until I got to Kokee flats, Portlock. There, at 0820 I found Irma cruisin' , 3/4s submerged, at Irma's Grotto. She looked like one really contented phat chick. When I got back to Makai Pier at 0922 I found that a cast had arrived. I found Kolohe up in the Morning Glory, 30 ft left of 1BS, Buster fronting the greenery to the right of 1BS, and Sadie also up in the Morning Glory, 60 ft right of 3BS. All would move down to cool off at mid day, and all remained that their respective locations all day. Team Billand reported Kermit has come full circle. They found him fronting cottage #1777 at Nimitz Beach, back from his 6 day trip to and from Diamond Head.
The Kenyon posse made the Ka'ena Point trek today, and came back with shots of Ka'ena and Kerby cruisin' together on a rock, and a rapidly rotting Benny on D#10 of his molt. IrmaKermit at Nimitz

Molting BennyKaena and Kerby

Aloha Good People; We apologize for last minute notice but we are trying to get the information out as we receive it... Please try to do what you can!
Aloha Donna,
You are the most expedient means to get this information out. Sorry to get it to you so late. Sunday faxes are accepted for the Chairman.  I'm again in receipt at last minute of the need to send letters/testimony to get this bill passed. Here is the information.
Please fax to:
Chairman Ken Ito 586-8504. Outer Islands 1-800-535-3859
Feel free to use this letter and put your info and name. The hearing is scheduled for 11:00AM Monday. Anyone that can attend should attend.
If you want to send an email letter, not as effective I am told, here is the link:

http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/emailtestimony

Whatever you are able to do will make a difference.
Mahalo, Dana
(copy of Dana's letter below - use this as a base.)

----------March 6, 2010


Honorable Chair Ken Ito
Vice Chair HAR & water, Land & Ocean
Resource Committee Members

RE: Support for SB2441

Aloha Honorable Ito,

As a volunteer and supporter for the Hawaiian Monk Seal Response Team of Oahu I am writing to you on behalf of the Hawaiian Monk Seal. We are a 501c3 established response team. We are trained and respond in conjunction with NOAA, DAR, and DLNR.

Our volunteers spend many hours of the day protecting and responding to haul outs and injuries to the Hawaiian Monk Seals here on the Main Hawaiian Islands.

Because of the recent shootings and killings of our most beloved mammals, we do feel it is imperative to saving the species that the SB2441 Bill is passed. Although protected under federal law, the misdemeanor status here in Hawaii to harm or kill a HMS seems to be viewed as a slap on the wrist for these killers of innocent animals.

Please please, do not let another year go by without stronger laws in force to circumvent the idea that is not a “big deal” to harm or kill one of these animals.

Losing just one animal adds to the decline and eventual extinction of this most important part of our history here in these beautiful Islands. The HMS is important to reef health and perhaps our future for fishing, life, and keeping the beauty of our islands safe. They offer so much to the environment and perhaps, like the Humpback Whales, can offer an added incentive to tourism and show the world how much Hawaii values and protects it’s special environment and endangered species.

The seals are in such a precipitous decline that delays in their protection is crucial to saving the species. As volunteers and protectors of the seals here in the Main Hawaiian Islands we need your support and help in passing this bill. The Main Hawaiian Islands are the only hope for these special Hawaiians and we ask that you support and pass this most important bill.

Mahalo nui loa,

I found Irma waiting for me at 0616 at the east end of Sandy Beach. Marilyn and I checked her throughout the day. I'll recheck her again shortly.
At 0708 on my first look at Rabbit Island I found Sadie behind the Morning Glory, 30 ft left of 1BS. When I got back to Makai Pier at 0854 I found that Buster had now joined her in the Morning Glory. At 0926 Kolohe hauled out and he too galumphed up into the Morning Glory for a snooze with the other two. All would move down individually around mid day to cool off, and all remained in a group, but there was no observed interaction.

At 1300 Mikala hauled out and joined the rest of the gang. Both Kolohe, and Sadie showed minimal interest in her arrival, but all quickly went back to snooze mode. Buster could not have cared less.

It was Whale Count Day so Team Billand were occupied, but at 1430 reported RI37 at Electric Beach. Barbara swears she saw her swimming by at Maili during the whale count at 0912. At 1511 they found R018 at Nimitz Beach, fronting cottage #1944.

For those of you who look at "the dailies", but don't necessarily check da' blog, I'd like to suggest that you do so, since Dr. Charles Littnan has sent two iKermit maps that I hope you will find interesting. After getting his transmitter at White Plains he has ventured as far as Beach Rd. at Diamond Head, and, as you know, made two unsuccessful attempts to haul out at Queen's Beach. He now appears to be heading back to the west. The map shows him passing Kewalo Basin on the return trip. http://www.monksealmania.blogspot.com/
(and that would be here :-)
Irma departed Sandy Beach at 1908.

Sadie, Kolohe, and BusterSadie, Mikala, Kolohe, and BusterIrmaRI37R018

Hey Donna-New Map. Looks like there might be some holes in our monk seal net or Kermit is extra wiley. As far as I know there weren't any definite sightings of Kermit except on Waikiki when he tried to haul out. But he was spending a lot of time on the beaches around Waikiki and Diamondhead. (hmm, maybe kermit and the others playing silly seal games and passing around the sat tag.... kidding)Looks like he is headed back west.CL

My first pass through the SE quadrant was a bust until I got to Spitting Cave at 0749. There I found Duke doing 8 minute dives.When I got back to Makai Pier at 0948 I found Sadie fronting the 3BS, and Buster skulking toward her 30 ft left of 3BS. There was some small interaction, and both would move down to cool off, remaining there the rest of the day.
Colleen called at 1141 reporting Irma at Diamond Head, below the 2nd lookout. Buster and SadieBuster and SadieDuke

I walked out of the house this morning in full Kermit mode, but I have yet to find the boy. On my first Rabbit Island look I found Sadie , 30 ft left of 1BS. The rest of the SE quadrant was a bust..........with showers. Tracy called at 0805 with the report of an animal with a transmitter on it's back making an unsuccessful attempt to haul out in Waikiki, near lifeguard stand 2F . Too many people standing at the shore line, made that an impossibility, and for just as with yesterday's attempt, the animal gave up and departed. My dollar is definitely on Kermit !!
At 0824 Colleen called with a 2nd had report of an animal hauling out fronting her sister's house at Diamond Head, however when Colleen arrived the animal was gone. Another Colleen call at 0854 reported an animal hauling out between the 2nd Lookout and the Grafitti Bunker. Since Colleen had commitments, I responded to Diamond Head, and found Irma on the beach, duly signed. I also checked the rest of Diamond Head from Beach Road to Black Point (as did Colleen).
Since I was in the area I went to Waikiki, but found nobody. I spoke with both yesterday's and today's lifeguards at 2F, and both told the same tale of an animal with "a box" on it's back unsucessfully trying to haul out.
When I got back to Makai Pier at 1140 I found that Sadie had been joined by Kolohe to the left of 1BS, on Rabbit Island, and Buster was at the greenery to the right of 1BS. At 1241 Mikala hauled out to join the other two at the left end. There was no interaction.
At 1434, Tracy called with the report of an animal just hauling out at Sandy Beach. When I arrived at 1439 I found Right Spot, at the east end of the beach. I'll be going back for a recheck shortly.
Team Billand reported R018 at Nimitz Beach in the cottage area at 1137, and called again around 1500 to confirm that he was still there.
When I got to Sandy Beach at 1820, Right Spot had departed.
Kolohe, Sadie and MikalaBusterIrma resting at Diamond Head (a little chunky)

R018Right Spot

On my first look at Rabbit Island, from Makai Pier, I found RIP, Sadie and Buster up in the Morning Glory, 30 ft left of 1BS. All would eventually move down. There was zero interaction When I got back to Makai Pier, at 0930 I found that Kolohe had joined the cast, at 3BS.
Team Billand called at 0703 to report R018 at Nimitz Beach.
I had called it a day at 1500, but a Tracy call at 1600 got be back out into the wild. She reported that an animal with a transmitter had been seen in Waikiki this morning around 1030ish, but could not haul out because of all the people at the water line (and all toooo familiar scene). The animal did not haul out and continued in an easterly direction. I did another recon of the SE Quadrant from 1600 to 1750, from Spitting Cave to Rabbit Island, and all spots in between. My Kermit Kuest was a bust. Maybe tomorrow ?????
A fringe benefit of my trek was finding that Duke had hauled out at the left end of Rabbit Island, and was hangin' with RIP and Buster in the Morning Glory. Sadie and Kolohe were still there also.

RIP, Buster, and DukeSadieKolohe

Aloha Good People...
This is soooo exciting!  I recieved the first iKermit map, thing is I don't know if that is just a days worth of data... I am thrilled Dr. Charles is sharing with us... kind of ties it all together.  Now when DB says only Kermit knows... well we can take a little peek into what he was up to.  What I find interesting about this first map is ... looks like he stays pretty close to the shore line for the most part...  well enjoy! da blog lady

Aloha Everyone from the HMS Research Program:
So the news is out, some special seals in the MHI are receiving some brand new high tech toys. I just wanted to fill everyone in briefly on what we are doing, why we are doing it, and explain why some critters are instrumented and some are not.

1. What the heck are we doing?
The HMSRP has just initiated a multi-year study on MHI seals to better understand their biology and ecology. The most obvious result is that there are going to be several of your most well known seals swimming around with a cellphone GPS dive recorder. In order to instrument the seals we need to catch them with a hoop net on the beach, sedate them, biomedically sample them, and then attach the tag. For each seal handled we learn an incredible amount... which gets us to the why?

2. Why are we instrumenting seals?
It is no secret that one of the most hopeful signs of potential monk seal recovery is the return and growth of monk seals in the MHI. We predict that there will be 3 times as many seals in the next 15 years or so. And that is great, but WHAT DOES IT MEAN? What sort of impacts will that have on the local ecosystems? What will it mean for commercial and recreational fishers? What will it mean for our beach use?

Even more basic questions can be answered like, why are monk seals doing so much better down here??

One comment on yesterdays Kermit blog, asked "why did they instrument kermit. he never goes anywhere". That is true and it isn't. So I think that most of the dedicated volunteers that overlap with Kermit can give me an extremely detailed and accurate list of where Kermit likes to haul out. But where does he go when he disappears? What does he do to make his living? Does he dive in coral reefs at 20 ft or sand flats at 120, or does he chase deepwater species in subphotic depths at 1000 ft?

But when we handle the seals we collect lots of samples to look at the health status of each seal. Any current signs of infection? Any dangerous diseases detected? What are the levels of bio-contaminants in each seal? Then, what are the implications of all of these things.

We have some scientists that merge the tracking with the disease work to see if they can find patterns. Like do seals that spend more time near the Ala Wai have different health profiles than seals that live on Molokai?

All of these questions (and more) are critical to understanding, managing and conserving these seals into the future.

3. So, why do we select the seals we do?
I will tell you that working on monk seals is hard. First, there aren't many of them so your sample size is always small. But more so, we are VERY conservative about when we handle seals. Think a seal might be pregnant, then she won't be handled. Think it might be too hot, skip the seal. Seal going to molt soon, or
just recently molted, we will tag them at a later date. The tags that we are currently using are a little larger so we won't put them on anything smaller than about 200 lbs so many of our little ones are off limits too. But anyone that falls into the narrow window that is left is a prime candidate for this very important work. I guaranteed you that there is a lot left for all of us to learn about these seals.

I probably created more questions than I answered, so if you want to know something more put a comment on this blog and I will try to get back to answer it.

Hope you are well and thanks again to the many volunteers for your hard work and dedication. I would like to give a shout out to the Billands for helping scout out Kermit and help educate the onlookers. You guys are the best.

Thanks and see you on the beaches.
Charles
Lead Scientist, Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program

My first pass through Sandy Beach at 0600 was a bust, but as I was finishing up at Hanauma Bay, posse person Sheryl called at 0652 to report a new arrival at the east end of the beach. When I arrived at 0654 I found Right Spot. She has remained there all day.
At 0718, from Makai Pier , I found a little gang of 3 up in the Morning Glory, 30 ft left of 1BS, on Rabbit Island . They would prove to be Sadie, Duke and Mikala. When I got back to Makai Pier at 0919 I found that RIP had joined the cast, but more down near the water line. At 1007 Buster hauled out and immediately moved up to join the gang in the Morning Glory, briefly interacting with Mikala. All would later move down to cool off. Sadie was well away from the rest of the gang, but RIP went over to join her. All remained there the rest of the day.
Team Billand reported a foraging R018 off shore of Nimitz Beach. He almost hauled out but in the end did not.
At 1128 a White Plains lifeguard patrol reported an animal at Nimitz Beach. They Billands responded and confirmed at it was Benny.
I got mail from Colleen today sayingthat she'd been told that on Saturday (Tsunami Day) Irma had been seen at Diamond Head around 1700. She had not become aware of that little factiod until today. I'd last seen Irma at Irma's on 2-22-10, and she had been seen feeding at Blow Hole at around 1700 that day. My guess is that the girl is headin' west.
I picked up the Right Spot rope at 1915. She was still snoozin' Duke, Sadie, Mikala, Buster and RIPRIP and SadieRight Spot

R018 foragingMolting Benny

It was yet another blustery, cool day, with less than ideal observation conditions. I nevertheless found RIP and Sadie just left of 1BS on Rabbit Island. RIP would enter the water at 1155 but returned to rejoin Sadie at 1222. Both moved up into the Morning Glory with the afternoon rising tide. The story was definitely more interesting over in the SW quadrant. Team Billand reported Kermit and Benny at White Plains at 0610. NOAA sent out a team and Kermit recieved a new transmitter, as well has new hind flipper tags. He is now officially 4DG/ 4DH. Benny took off when the procedure began, and Kermit immediately after. Benny hauled out again fronting cottage #1777, at Nimitz Beach. Kermit was a no show for the rest of the day.
At 1356 White Plains lifeguard , Bryan called to report an animal at the west end of WP. Team Billand confirmed the animal as RI37, fronting cottage #1943. This is her first sighting at WP.

RIP and SadieBenny's molt RI37

Sandy Beach posse person, Mike, called at 0550 to report that Right Spot was still at Sandy Beach. When I arrived at 0600 I found her right where I'd left her last night. I restrung the rope and continued on. We rechecked her throughout the day, and I will be returning there shortly.
Rabbit Island observation conditions were horrible today, but I was there at Makai Pier giving it a shot. I found RIP at 2BS at 0720, and became of little Mikala up near some Morning Glory to the left of 1BS at 0944. She had no doubt been there all along and I'd simply missed her until then. At 0948 Duke hauled out at the right end of the beach and immediately moved up into the grass, where he snoozed away the day.
Team Billand called at 0802 to report Kermit at White Plains. The next call came at 0947 to report Benny at Nimitz Beach. Benny would take off at around 1000, and head in an easterly direction. While Barbara was pursuing him she happened on to Rocky snoozin' on the reef at Wind Sock, Kalaeloa Beach. White Plains lifeguard , Bryan, called at 1030 to report an animal just hauling out to WP. Team Billand confirmed that it was none other than our boy Benny. On a later check of Rocky they found she had moved up onto the beach and was visible from the road, which natural brought more interest.
I happened onto some shots of Lona (R017) on the FLICKR site, taken Lahaina, Maui on 2-27-10. She is sporting her new F2 bleach, and lookin' darned chunky.
Right Spot departed Sandy Beach of her own volition at 1850. I picked up the stuff and called it a day at 1900.
DukeRIP and MikalaBenny and KermitKermit and BethanyRockyLona on Maui

Benny and Kermit did their "thing" today at White Plains. Between Access.Surf, Bethany Hamilton, and the filming of the family currently vacationing here while their house is getting built by Extreme Home Makeover, it was an interesting morning and afternoon. Team Billand was there until I got my now sunburned butt over there. Jen showed up to relieve me in the afternoon.
The interesting part is that around 1:30PM Benny decided that Kermit's side of the beach looked greener and went under his ropes to join Kermit at his spot (more centrally located to the filming crews and folks of course, those guys don't give up a photo op).
It offered a better perimeter and things settled down a bit. BUT, not for long. After Jen arrived Kermit decided he wasn't so sure about "sharing" his sandy pastures with Benny and decided to go over and snort and belch on him for a while. Benny pretty much ignored all that rude behavior and they were nose to nose upon my departure. Quite a couple of brah's on the beach...
Mahalo, DanaBenny, KermitBenny