Natural Resource Protections

General Information

One of the main missions of State management is to monitor and study the populations and health of Kure Atoll’s birds, plants, arthropods, and coral reef communities.

While the management board of PMNM plays lead roles in endangered species work on Kure, DLNR operates in coordination with those agencies to be the “eyes and ears” on the ground. Adapting the most recent recovery plans within the ESA, MMPA, and multiple state statutes ensures that the monitoring activities on-island is a supportive and dedicated level of protection.

Collaborative Management is Key to Protecting Wildlife & Remote Areas

The aim is to understand the distribution and functional linkages of organisms and their habitats in order to improve ecosystem-based management decisions. The areas that monitoring focuses on are biodiversity, ecological interconnectivity, environmental change, and human impact.

Seabird Monitoring

Kure Atoll seabird monitoring program was established in 2000. The monitoring program increases our understanding of the mechanisms that regulate the nesting success and survival rates for the eighteen species that nest on Kure Atoll. Information gained from these studies is used to implement management actions to mitigate problems.

Bird Banding Program Albatross Nesting Counts Short Tail Albatross Monitoring Ocean Distribution
Monitoring of Albatross Oceanic Distribution &
Population Dynamics of Albatross

Seabirds banded for monitoring and management

Bird banding that is conducted is useful in both research and management projects as it helps with both the decision-making process for the state as well as other agencies monitoring seabirds and their livelihood.

Individual identification provides basic data for studies such as dispersal and migration, behavior and social structure, life-span and survival rate, reproductive success, and population growth.

Kure seabird and shorebird population counts are included in USFWS inventories that help to give a more complete picture of the population status of the species.

Kaʻupu – Blackfoot Albatross

ʻĀ – Brown Booby

ʻAkihikēʻehiʻale – Tristram’s Storm Petril

Mōlī – Laysan Albatross

With a high fidelity on returning to natal sites, monitoring seabirds can be an ideal species to compile observation data from. As albatross are ground-nesting birds, they are one of the first species to experience the immediate effects of a changing landscape. This count happens twice a year in conjunction with the vegetation plots

From 2000-2020, there have been several sightings of the endangered Short-tailed albatross. In 2010, there were two infertile eggs suspected to be from a female-female pair. With alarmingly low population numbers for this species, PMNM continues to work with international recovery teams to facilitate an increase in the total breeding populations that reside outside of its final vestiges on volcanic islands off the coasts of Japan.

Cooperative Studies on Ocean Distribution Monitoring of Albatross

In spring 2013, the State of Hawaii in partnership with Oikonos, Hawaii Pacific University, and NOAA conducted a third-year study tracking adult black-footed albatross to document foraging hot spots and migration patterns.

The goal of this project was to enhance Black-Foot Albatross conservation by investing in the at-sea distribution of birds from Kure Atoll. Kure was an ideal setting for this research because these birds are expected to forage in the Western North Pacific. This migration differs from albatross breeding on Tern Island. It is an area known to have a high volume of longlining and illegal driftnet fishing activity and can have important implications for effective international management of the species. Equally important, the information from this study was critical for understanding the at-sea distribution overlayed with fishing that would allow for more informed management decisions for their nesting colonies.

Examine the oceanic distribution and population dynamics of the Laysan Albatross using geolocation telemetry and microsatellite genetics.

This was a 2005 study conducted in collaboration between DOFAW and Lindsay Young (grad student, UH-Manoa). The research consisted of deploying 57 trackers on individual Laysan Albatross which were retrieved one year later in 2006.

The data recovered showed a genetically distinct population on Kure in comparison to the other Northwestern Hawaiian Island colonies. It revealed the Kure colonies to be foraging across western Pacific areas—primarily off the Kuroshio extension by Japan. This was a unique revelation as other research locations–Tern Island and Oahu—displayed a distribution closer to the Aleutian Island, an area North to Northeast of Kure.

In comparison to other populations of Laysan Albatross, the westerly distribution exposes a different set of risks with regard to fisheries bycatch within the EEZ of Asian nations. Laysan Albatross from Kure Atoll also ingested up to ten times the amount of place compared to birds tracked from Oahu.

Monk Seal Monitoring

The Hawaiian monk seal is the only seal native to Hawaii. Along with the Hawaiian hoary bat, monk seals are one of only two mammals endemic to the islands. The Hawaiian monk seal is also Hawaiʻi’s official state mammal.

For the past 20 years, the State of Hawaii has supported the recovery of the Hawaiian monk seal population on Kure Atoll by contributing to the Marine Mammal Research Program run by the National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS). Kure Atoll Conservancy has contributed to the recovery program since 2010 by hiring contractors and helping volunteers with expenses.

Background Information Management Objectives Monitoring Objectives Monk Seal Field Camps
On Kure

Background Information

From the early 19th century, sealing expeditions aggressively harvested Hawaiian monk seals for commercial use to the brink of extinction. By the turn of the 20th century, and in response to these industry-wide overharvesting practices of many different marine species, the first layers of environmental protections were established to give Northwestern Hawaiian Island (NWHI)I the space to recover. The monk seal population increased following exploitation and by 1958, when the first beach count of all major NWHI was conducted, the population was about three times what it is today. The population declined thereafter and in 1976, it was designated “Depleted” under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 and as “Endangered” under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

From the late 1970s, and over the next 40 years, the population has continued to decline and is one of the highest priority species in Hawaiʻi conservation today. The species relies heavily on conservation and species-specific wildlife management to provide the interventions necessary to ensure its survival.

Check out the other areas that support’s the wildlife community

Management objectives are to advance the recovery of the Hawaiian monk seal through the following:

Support and facilitate emergency response for monk seals (i.e.disentangle seals and add photos)
Prevent entanglement through marine debris removal [link to marine debris page]
Conserve Hawaiian monk seal habitat through Habitat Restoration Project. [link to dune stabilization project and eradication project]
Reduce the impact of human interactions by implementing NMFS protocols for all Kure occupants when working around monk seals
Limit human presence and disturbance on beaches by changing restoration and monitoring practices.
provide a year-round presence for ongoing habitat restoration, enforcement, monitoring, protection, and prevention.
Provide outreach, education, and supplemental background reading material to Kure staff and volunteers on the critical status of the Hawaiian monk seal

The monitoring objectives implemented by NMFS are to record survival factors, pregnant females, pupping, and documenting the physical condition of immature monk seals.

Duties for monk seal monitoring include: monitoring surveys, disentangling seals, tagging weaned pups, conducting necropsies, bleach marking, collecting scat and spew, and documenting survival factors and births. Bi-weekly reports are sent to NMFS from Kure, and data and photographs are entered into the NMFS database. When NMFS personnel are present DLNR and KAC personnel assist with tagging weaned pups, disentangling seals, and supporting camp set-up and break-down.

The National Marine Fisheries Science (NMFS) usually stations 1 or 2 biological field technicians on Kure for 1-4 months to monitor monk seals during the summer. DLNR takes a collaborative approach to the efforts with monk seals and shares living quarters, office space, and kitchen facilities, among other areas as necessary.

When NMFS personnel are not on-island, the DLNR personnel are designated as Cooperating Investigators and continue to conduct weekly or bi-weekly surveys under NMFS Scientific Research and Enhancement Permit. These surveys provide more opportunities to intercept and document injured or entangled animals.

Ecological Monitoring

Recognizing the importance of inter-dependence in wildlife communities, there is always more to understand and more to survey than possible. So in all areas of the work that we are able to do is the intention to benefit multiple species with each step.

Ecological Research & Monitoring Shorebird Monitoring Vagrant Birds Pest Monitoring Honu (Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle) Monitoring Spinner Dolphin (Stenella longirostris) Ecological Research Laysan Duck Monitoring

Check out the other areas that support’s the wildlife community

Pollution Reduction

Habitat Restoration Program

Hawaiʻi shorebird species, respectively, are important environmental indicators as they tend to migrate seasonally with the weather. Shorebird surveys are conducted opportunistically to monitor 5 primary shorebird species that utilize Kure as an over-wintering ground.

Surveys are usually conducted on the beach strand, on the runway, around camp, and on two thoroughfares on the interior of the island (road to the Monument and road to the runway).

Staying vigilant for rare species sightings are especially valuable as most birds have travelled a considerable distance to land on Kure shores. Monitoring the frequency, the quantity, the season a vagrant bird arrives, lingers, and departs can contribute to a better understanding of weather, seasons, ocean activities, migrations, and the bird itself.

The eradication of rats on Kure in the 90s was a positive turn for seabird nesting populations. As habitat restoration efforts respond to a variety of survival factors, pest monitoring is vital in maintaining the integrity of an ecosystem by mitigating problem species. There are two species of particular interest—Big-headed ants and avian ticks. Both are disruption nesting success in their own ways.

In the 1800s, captainsʻ journals recorded the numerous turtles consumed on Kure by shipwrecked sailors. Today, honu are a rare sighting on Kure. The first documented nest was in 2009 and since then there have been no recorded hatchings. Ongoing monitoring focuses on understanding nesting populations.

Nesting populations rely on the environmental integrity of shorelines for safekeeping and the protection of habitat through low human disturbance. One of the ways to improve conditions for nesting populations is by removing the invasive plants, such as Tournefortia argentea, that destabilize beaches with its aggressive root structure.

From 2001 to 2011, researchers collected long-term data on population structure, ecology, and socio-behavioral dynamics study on the population of spinner dolphins at Kure Atoll. The research was conducted as a collaborative effort between DLNR/DOFAW personnel and Prof. Leszek Karczmarski of the University of Hong Kong. The project ended in 2011.

The federally listed endangered Laysan duck (Anas laysanensis) is restricted to less than 1100 ha in the North Western Hawaiian Islands (NWHI, with populations primarily on Laysan and Midway Atolls, mean elevations < 3 m above sea level). Once widely distributed across the Hawaiian archipelago, today a global population of approximately 400-500 potentially breeding pairs persists.

Green Island is 90 ha with a maximum elevation of 7.3 m and a mean elevation of 2.8 (SD 2.0) and lies within the presumed pre-historic range of Anas laysanensis (Laysan teal). While there may have been freshwater seeps historically, there are none today. However, because fresh water seaps are important habitat to the duck’s survivability, two small groundwater seeps (< 0.1 ha) were created along with six freshwater seeps installed as well.

As recommended by the species recovery plan (US Fish and Wildlife Service, USFWS 2009) and subsequent structured decision-making workshops (National Conservation Training Center, NCTC 2010), we reintroduced wild Laysan ducks to Kure Atoll in 2014 for an additional ‘insurance’ population to reduce extinction risks to the species. When future catastrophes strike, such as sudden flooding from sea level rise, tsunamis, hurricanes, disease outbreaks, or accidental predator introductions, these disasters are unlikely to hit each island population simultaneously, or with the same magnitude, thus each island population serves as insurance for the species. Species extinction risks are dramatically reduced by restoring additional island populations and ultimately, Laysan ducks could be reintroduced to less vulnerable higher elevation islands in the future (USFWS 2009). Because locations on higher islands are not yet available that are free from predators or hybridization threats, recovery efforts focused on increasing the number of populations in the NWHI have remained a priority.

Biosecurity