Frisky seal sent to Johnston Atoll

By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer

A mischievous Hawaiian monk seal was banished to Johnston Atoll yesterday, after weeks of groping beachgoers on Maui and the Big Island.

The endangered 300-pound male monk seal known as RM-34 was flown 800 miles away to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands aboard a Coast Guard C-130 Hercules from Air Station Barbers Point.

"He's just doing what young juvenile seals do — it's not necessarily aggressive," said Margaret Akamine, a protected species coordinator with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "This is the third time we've moved the seal. It has been a long six weeks."

The 7-foot-long, 2-year-old seal began nipping and fondling swimmers at Kealakekua Bay before being moved closer to its South Point birthplace on Oct. 20. It swam back to Kealakekua within days, was recaptured Oct. 27 and taken to a remote Kaho'olawe shore.

During the weekend of Nov. 15, the seal showed up again on Maui, and scores of people were said to have been in the water playing with it.

One woman was held underwater, and a few other swimmers were nipped.

Onshore, people were seen petting the seal and posing for photographs.

RM-34 is the only seal known to have been born on the Big Island, Akamine said. It eluded capture for a week before it was caught napping on the rocks at La Perouse Bay on Maui.

The species is protected under the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

"You can be fined and go to jail for harassing, disturbing or interacting with the animal," Akamine said.

"The reason they need these protections are because they are so endangered."

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8110.