Protect Habitat for Endangered Hawaiian Monk Seals

We, the undersigned, are concerned for the future of the Hawaiian monk seal, the most endangered seal species in the United States. We urge that critical habitat in the Main Hawaiian Islands receive legal protection as critical habitat necessary for preventing the extinction of the Hawaiian monk seal. Critical habitat designation would ensure management that is consistent with the requirements of the Endangered Species Act.

Since the mid 1950s, the monk seal population has declined rapidly, with only about 1,200 animals remaining. The threats from limited food sources, shark predation, global warming and sea level rise, entanglement in marine debris, disease, habitat loss and disturbance, fisheries interactions, and pollution are driving this already small population to the brink of extinction.

The Hawaiian monk seal has had designated habitat in a marine national monument at a remote archipelago northwest of Hawaii since 2006. Unfortunately, three-quarters of the islands in that sanctuary could be underwater before the end of the century thanks to global warming.