It has dropped from eight hundred seals in 1989 to four hundred in 1998. In December, the Hawaiian Monk Seal recovery group said that the seal is no longer endangered. But lots of people think that's not true. They think seals are dying too fast. Some seals die because sharks are killing them.
Some male seals kill the young seals and some are just curious and get tangled in fishermen's nets.
They die of starvation or strangulation. Hawaiian Monk Seals have been endangered since 1976. Fishing is also a threat to Hawaiian Monk Seals. Sharks are one of the biggest threats. Some seals have been found with parts of their bodies bitten off.