Opinion ID: 870822
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: monk seals and other species

Text: The plaintiffs submitted a July 5, 2006 report prepared by marine biologist Jason Baker on behalf of the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center pursuant to the plaintiffs' June 2006 Freedom of Information Act request. Baker's report summarize[d] all documented sightings of Hawaiian monk seals in the area of Turtle Bay resort, between Kawela Bay and Kahuku Point, as well as all monk seal births at or near the project site. Since the early 1980s, monk seal sightings at and around the project area were sporadic. Sightings were reported in 1984 and 1991. The record indicates no sightings between 1985 and 1989 nor between 1997 and 1999. In 2001, monk seal sightings at or around the project area began to increase, with three sightings in 2001 and 2002, six in 2003, nine in 2004, twenty-one in 2005 and fifty four in 2006. According to Baker's report, [sixty-nine] of [the] 101 [documented] seal sightings [since 1984] are attributable to [eleven] known individual[ seals], [f]ive of [which] are adult females who are documented to have given birth and nursed their pups on remote beaches on Kaua`i, Moloka`i, Hawai`i, Ni`ihau, Rabbit Island, and O'ahu. As of this report: [a] single birth has been recorded in [the project] area. A pup was born on Kaihalulu Beach, on the Kahuku side of the resort, on June 1, 2006, and the mother and nursing pup are currently in the area as of July 3, 2006, along the beach or in nearshore waters. The nursing period generally lasts [five to seven] weeks. Although not in the immediate area of interest, a second birth was documented at nearby Waiale'e Beach Park on March 15, 1991. The plaintiffs also referenced three water quality reports administered by Kuilima in 1989 that summarized observations of green sea turtles over periods of five days during daylight hours only. These reports indicated that, in July 1989, no more than three turtles were observed simultaneously in one time interval. The October 1989 report estimated a maximum of nine turtles in the bay during morning hours. In December 1989, there was an average of about ten turtles in the bay during early morning hours and three or four turtles in the bay during the mid-day and afternoon hours.