Recent work done on Hawaiian monk seals indicates the future of these docile creatures may be no longer in our control. Seal harvesting took its toll on the population in the 1800s. Today, measures are now in place to protect the Hawaiian monk seal, and throughout the earlier part of this century, the population did show a stablizing trend. However, the population is again in decline. Present estimates put the total Hawaiian monk seal population at 1200. This is down from 1500 five years ago. Marine mammologists now attribute poor mating practices to the decline in monk seal numbers. It appears that males have become increasingly aggressive during mating. Researchers suspect that the ratio of males to females has been increasing, and in an effort to "win" the female, multiple males will fight for dominance, mortally wounding the female in the process, and as a consequence, reducing her feeding efficiency, or increase her chances of being attacked by tiger sharks. Many means of intervention have been explored, but none have proven effective, yet.

If you get to see a monk seal, get a good look, because chances are, you won't see one ever again. There are only 2 other tropical pinneped species known besides the Hawaiian monk seal - they are the Carribean monk seal and the Mediterranean monk seal (all other seal species are temperate, or sub-arctic). The Carribean monk seal is believed to be extinct. The Mediterranean monk seal numbers less than 1000.