It is illegal to kill, capture or harass monk seals. Monk seal species have shown alarming population declines in recent years due to the rapid spread of human activity to even the most remote and isolated areas. Many monk seals were clubbed to death for meat, oil and their skin. Significant breeding areas for Hawaiian monk seals are mostly under the protection of the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge, which is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Monk seals are polygynous, which means they mate a number of times with a number of different partners.
Monk seals mate in the water.
Successful pupping also occurs on beaches where sheltering vegetation does not exist and, in recent years, pups have been born on rocky beaches. Apparently, however, when human activity forces pregnant females to desert their traditional pupping beaches to bear pups, pup survival is greatly reduced. Mothers do not feed while nursing. Mothers nurse their pups for five to six weeks, and subsist entirely on energy stored in their blubber. A mother may lose up to half her body weight during the nursing period.