Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

This site is currently in beta, and your feedback is helping shape its ongoing development.

Visual observations of Hawaiian monk seal behavioral interactions and contact rates to support NMFS efforts to mitigate the risk of possible disease outbreaks, collected on Oahu and Laysan Island during the period 2015-06-01 to 2015-09-01.

Published by Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce | Metadata Last Checked: December 19, 2025 | Last Modified: 2018-02-27T00:00:00.000+00:00
Infectious disease has the potential to pose serious risk to Hawaiian Monk Seal populations. HMSRP is currently researching and evaluating methods to minimize disease threats to this endangered population, including potential vaccination programs. Observation of seal behavior and social interactions will provide information critical to understanding contact rates between animals which will aid our efforts modeling epidemiological processes and planning vaccination or other disease risk mitigation strategies. To provide this crucial data on seal behavior and contact rates this project aims to: • Describe the haul-out patterns and numbers of seals using haul-out beaches on Oahu in the MHI and Laysan in the NWHI. • Document individual seal behavior and interactions between seals; o especially with regard to different types of potentially infectious contacts. o with attention to age/sex patterns that may help identify generalities of high-risk seals.

data.gov

An official website of the GSA's Technology Transformation Services

Looking for U.S. government information and services?
Visit USA.gov