Tempering Expectations of Recovery for Previously Exploited Populations in a Fully Protected Marine Reserve

Table 2

Historical counts of Hawaiian monk seals in the NWHI, at: Kure Atoll (Kur), Midway Island (Mid), Pearl and Hermes Reef (PHR), Lisianski Island (Lis), Laysan Island (Lay), and French Frigate Shoals (FFS). These do not represent overall population estimates. Numbers in bold represent seals killed; numbers in italics represent seals observed. Annotated from Ragen [5] and Hiruki and Ragen [6].

Year	Site	Seals taken or observed	Notes
1805	Lis	4	Exploratory tour of NWHI [34]
1842	Kur	~ 60	Food for shipwrecked crew [120]
1850	Lis	?	Food for shipwrecked crew [121]
1850	PHR	10–12	Food for visiting crew [122]
1859	NWHI	1500?	Returned with “1500 seal and shark skins” [123]
1870	Mid, Kur	> 60	Food for shipwrecked sailors [124]
1886	Lay	?	Bait for shark fishing [125]
1888	Mid	0	Shipwrecked crew observed no seals in 14 months [125, 126]
1891	NWHI	1	Sealing mission; only one seal observed [127]
1891	Lay	0	No seals observed in six weeks [128]
1896	Lay	0	No seals observed in three months [129]
1905	Lay	0	No seals observed [130]
1911	Lay	0	No seals observed in six weeks [131]
1912	FFS	0	No seals observed [126]
1912	Lay	1	One seal observed in three months [126]
1912	Lis	2	Two seals observed [126]
1913	Mid	5-6	[132]
1923	Lay	4	[132]
1923	Lis	10	10 seals taken [126]
1923	PHR	125	[119]
1923	Kur	40–50	Seals observed [133]
1934	Kur	50–60	Seen in water or land [21]
1941	Mid	6	Observed over 6 month period [134]
1949	Lay	20–30	Partial count [126]
1949	PHR	100	More than 100 seals [126]
1950	Lis	100	At least 100 seals observed [135]
1958	NWHI	916	Beach count of nonpups [37, 38]
1968	NWHI	456	Incomplete beach count (J. Baker, pers. comm.) [136]
1978	NWHI	468	Incomplete beach count (J. Baker, pers. comm.) [136]
1988	NWHI	486	Beach count of nonpups (J. Baker, pers. comm.) [40]
1998	NWHI	391	Beach count of nonpups (J. Baker, pers. comm.) [40]
2008	NWHI	293	Beach count of nonpups [41]