RO42 was relocated to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands for public safety as well as her own. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is hoping once she is no longer able to interact with humans she will revert back to her natural behavior. – Photo: Courtesy of NOAA Fisheries

Too-friendly monk seal relocated to NWHI

Ka Wai Ola Loa staff

The Hawaiian monk seal known as R042 now has a new home in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands after being released Feb. 27 near Nihoa, about 230 miles northwest of Kaua'i.

Fitted with a tracking device, the female seal has been shown "swimming around Nihoa" being "quite active," said Wende Goo, communications officer for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Fisheries. "We plan to monitor her as best we can."

Goo said this is the fourth relocation of the seal, which was born about three years ago on a populated beach on Hawai'i Island. Despite federal protection banning interaction with monk seals, an endangered species, people "encouraged her to swim with them and play with them" and fisherman would feed her, Goo said.

People thought R042 was cute when she was young and weighed 100 pounds, but now that she weighs a little more than 300 pounds, her playfulness can seem threatening, Goo said. "Monk seals latch on to other monk seals, and when she's trying to do that to a snorkeler, they can't get up for air," she said. "She's used to being fed and when she's not fed, she'll nip at people. These are all common monk seal behaviors."

RO42's penchant for socializing was reinforced by fishermen feeding her and beachgoers playing with her. When she weighed less than 100 pounds, it wasn't a problem in people's eyes, but now that she weighs more than 300 pounds, her behavior became alarming to people. – Photo: Courtesy of NOAA Fisheries

Goo said the decision to relocate R042 once more – for her safety and the public's safety – was not an easy one and came after her office received complaints about R042's behavior. "What we really need people to realize is R042 is a human-caused problem," Goo said.

"We decided to move her from a relatively stable environment where she's used to in the main Hawaiian Islands to a place where she's less certain of the environment," Goo said. "We're hoping she'll meet other monk seals and learn how to be a monk seal. It's not a decision we made lightly because we're taking a female from the population that has reproduction potential and we're taking her and putting her in another environment. It was a really rough decision for us; when we started getting complaints from people we had to move her."

Previous relocations of R042 were to sites within the Hawaiian Islands.

Goo said R042 "saw many planes and boats" on her way to her new home. The U.S. Coast Guard flew R042 from Lāna'i – where she had earlier been relocated – to the Kāne'ohe Marine Corps Base Hawai'i, where she was housed for a couple days until being flown to Kaua'i and then transported by cutter to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Goo said she was grateful for the invaluable help provided by the Coast Guard and marine base.