by Alicia Graef
Hawaii’s monk seals (click here) have become one of the most endangered marine mammals on the planet, but this week they got a boost with an announcement from the government that their protected habitat will be exponentially expanded in an effort to help them recover.
Monk seals were first listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1976, but despite protection their numbers have continued to decline since the 1950s. Today, there are only an estimated 1,100 left in the wild whose numbers are believed to be dropping at a rate of 3 percent every year.
They face the many of the usual threats marine life including limited food, entanglement, pollution, disease and development, which could be made worse as climate change continues to alter their environment and beaches they rely on to give birth....
