ABSTRACT
The Hawaiian monk seal is one of the world’s rarest marine mammal species and is listed as depleted and endangered based on national and international criteria. As with many wildlife species, the natural and anthropogenic threats that monk seals face affect the population heterogeneously based on demographic group and geographic location. The following sections discuss the legal mandates driving monk seal conservation, some of the main sources of mortality and morbidity for seals across the Hawaiian Archipelago, and the conservation strategies, past and present, that managers and scientists use to mitigate these threats and ensure the species future.
