The Bad News .... and then some good news

Aloha Good People

I had the good fortune to be a guest this past week at two major gatherings. The first conference I attended at the beginning of the week was The Hawaiian Monk Seal Recovery Team meeting. This is a group of experts from across the board that put together a plan (I believe back in 1983, with a major revision in 2007). This group of federal and state agencies, scientist, and special interest groups meet annually to review the plan. http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/recovery/hawaiianmonkseal.pdf

Also the second part of the week The Marine Mammal Commission was here and on Thursday the Hawaiian monk seal was the topic for the entire day. http://mmc.gov/reports/annual (it appears this link does not have the latest update but hold on to it for future use). The Marine Mammal Commission is an independent agency of the U.S. Government, established under Title II of the Act to provide independent oversight of the marine mammal conservation policies and programs being carried out by federal regulatory agencies.

By sitting through some of these sessions I certainly gained a whole new respect for the processes and demands put on the folks here both at a federal and state level. My hat is off to them for the continued efforts and dedication to a somewhat tedious and sometimes frustrating process.

Okay so having said that, I would like to summarize some of my "holy moly" moments....

It's a very grave and sad realization that with all the efforts being made the decline in the North West Hawaiian Islands is still on a rapid decline and what is most disturbing its unclear if it will change. I remember a moment while listening and thinking oh...no, we might lose them, we may not win this one... still I have a hard time accepting that an entire species might poof ....be gone.


The good news is... although "they" have been saying the main Hawaiian island animals are doing better than the NWHI.. I finally got a sense there is an URGENCY to understand what is happening here.... the differences in the issues here and how to best deal with the GROWING population here. By the way... I have to also let many of you know VOLUNTEERS ROCK! and there were many many many acknowledgements and compliments from many different groups and agencies for the volunteers and all that we do...

And finally the ISSUE that we the volunteers have been jumping up and down and screaming about is ENFORCEMENT... I don't have any real news of any changes... I am pretty sure the powers that be have HEARD and UNDERSTAND the frustration we feel. I do hope that when the powers that be who are making all the decisions as to how to manage a growing seal population include a better system and the appropriate funding for enforcement.

I did have an opportunity to speak directly with Lauren Thielen Chairperson, DLNR and one thing we agreed on is she hears us... and she doesn't disagree with us... but of course there are the all the reasons why things haven't or won't change in the near future.... What I learned is perhaps WE been approaching this the wrong way... maybe we shouldn't be complaining how "useless" they are but how frustrated we are because there is a NEED and if there were funding for these guys there is a purpose and demand for them... This is going to come down to a public out cry to our legislators that DOCARE is priority to the enforcement to protect the monk seals as well as their habitat especially as the population continues to increase.

OKAY the other issue we need to admit is when DOCARE is successful its the judiciary system that falls short... perhaps the fines aren't stiff enough, or maybe the fine process shouldn't be a criminal action to compete with the case loads of most prosecutors.... Just trying to brain storm some... I guess what I walked away with after talking with Ms. Thielen is we are in this together, lets see if we can work through our frustrations come up with some ideas and take a different approach and maybe some new solutions..... ( I still like the idea of hooking up an intercom on Rabbit Island... can you imagine a seal turning over and a voice saying... hey moron, leave me alone... just kidding of course).

I figure I would update my fellow volunteers on some of this.... We often are looking at what is right in front of us with many questions... perhaps reviewing some of these documents will help answer those questions.... and at the very least create some new ones. ~donna~da blog lady.