Dec 13, 2009 A-50 at Sharks Cove

Here we have ourselves a surprise on the Reef. Looking down from above about 10-15 feet below us is A-50 from the Northern Hawaiian island chain tagged on the island of Nihoa earlier this year. He is an 11 month old pup.









I first got the call from NOAA around 6:15 or so. It was just getting dark. I was told that there was a monk that was tangled in a fishing line and that there was a transmitter laying next to it. Yeah right. A transmitter? NOAA rep didn't know what to make of this since there are no Monks in our area that have a transmitter on it. Hmmmmmm O well, get the camera and take off to Sharks Cove to find out what this is all about. Wahiawa HPD John L. was on the scene. Must be there really is a Monk there. I asked him if he had any idea where it was. He said he'll take me to it and insisted that there was a transmitter sitting by his flippers. After finding A-50, I called Jen M. another Monk volunteer. Quickly anticipation was building.



Looking through my camera in the dark at the Monk a number of feet down slope on a rocky ledge below we can see that there's probably just somebodys camera laying in a tide pool that the Monk just happened to be laying next to. But then I was asked my our lead supervisor David S., our MMRC (Marine Mammel Response Coordinator esq.) to make certain that the fishing line was not attached to the body in any way.







Sure enough, there is something that doesn't look like a camera all of a sudden. But what is it? O well, I gotta check the tangled line anyways to be certain A-50 is not tangled in it. So I politely asked A-50 to lift up his flippers so that I could get my job done.















He briefly looked back when I pulled out the string acknowledging that I was there, but didn't really care much.








Then he goes back to sleep. No big deal.








This is what's left of the chunk of flesh that was taken off the back of A-50. The rest of his skin was still stuck to the transmitter. He appeared to be healing just fine. The monk is really an remarkable creation. Can you imagine inching your way up a lava slope on your belly only to find a comfortable spot to sleep . . . in a bed of lava? My kinda guy.












Here is a picture of the transmitter and the yellow line that we found in the tide pool below his flippers.












Here is a picture of the back of the transmitter with the skin on it. It's a good thing that the transmitter didn't fall off in the ocean someplace never to be found again. Hopefully now NOAA can find some beneficial data here and learn how to get to the next level of this kind of monitoring.

Our Monk volunteer group (and I assume NOAA too) would like to offer a special thanks to Wahiawa HPD John L. because without his staying there, we never would have been able to find A-50, the transmitter and this story about a monk pup that has traveled some 462 miles so that he could sleep on one of our North Shore lava beds called Sharks Cove.

FYI: Although the tag on the right flipper reads A-51, NOAA names the seal after the tag on the left flipper which reads A-50. The reason? No reason, juss to keep us all guessing. . . . I guess.

More interesting information on this and other Monks can be found at: http://www.fpir.noaa.gov/DIR/dir_mammal_turtle_seabird.html#MonkSeals

Here is a picture of Nihoa: (I'm gonna try and get one to attach here, stand by)