MonkSealMania.blogspot.com: April 29, 2019 Monk Seal Dailies

Monday, April 29, 2019

April 29, 2019 Monk Seal Dailies

Today's dailies are brought to you by Team T&D (Tammy and Dave) and Team Billand.

Team T&D did the Ka'ena Point hike today. Their first find was Luana RN58 looking huge. At the point they found the albatross chicks are starting to get their adult feathers.
Ka'ena RO40 was found in his pool. And then there was PvKauai RW02 in the shallows of the main pool.
Team T&D's next find was R366 on the outer reefs. Then to their surprise they spotted a seal in the water doing its best hippo impression. He was telescoping and barking at R366. Turns out it was RIP RR70 and R366 got tired

of his and turned his back.

And then Team Billand had an exciting day. Just before 10 am this morning they spotted a seal sleeping below the water hole at a westside beach. At first they were not sure who the critter was and seemed like they waited forever for the seal to move.
FINALLY the seal moved and they ID'd RH36 Kawena, BUT she has a hook sticking out of the right corner of its mouth with a trailing line. The hook appears to be swinging from side to side like it was loose. The hook is visible about 3 inch in size.

Kawena seems okay, at first until she began to galumph on the rocks, showing a long line trailing with a swivel, and possible wire leader. Team Billand called NOAA immediately, texted photos and in turn they started the preparation and consulting with the NOAA team
Just after 11 am Kawena galumphed and the line seem to snag on the rocks. She got spooked and tossed her head up in the air to force the line from the rocks. A wave came and she went into the water, slowly and was gone. Team Billand called and updated Tracy. They never saw Kawena again.
YA DONE GOOD TEAM BILLAND! I am so glad you are out there watching over these critters!

But they weren't done yet. While out looking for Kawena RH36 they noticed a seal coming in with a fishing line dangling from it's mouth. To their shock this was not Kawena but Lei Ola RH48. The line was coming from the left corner of her mouth. The last time Team Billand saw her was on the 15th when she was with RW02. The line seems to be about two feet or longer. They could see the hook shank but not the barb. Looks like the it might be getting a little rusty, as there were rust marks on the corner of her mouth. She seems to be in good healthy, nice and round, alert and not combative in anyway.

On a much happier note to end today's events Happy Birthday 1st Puna RK88 !!!