US agency considers allowing fishermen to fire paintballs at endangered seals stealing their fish 

Commercial fishers in Hawaii have had enough of monk seals stealing their catches, damaging their gear and even threatening their crew.

But the hefty marine mammals are an endangered species, leading federal officials to look for non-lethal deterrents.

The National Marine Fisheries is proposing fisherman shoot the endangered seals with paintballs and sponge grenades.

However, the notion has sparked fury among animal rights advocates, with some calling the proposal ‘horrid’ and that it would encourage more abuse against the endangered seals.  

The agency says it is now reviewing comments from the public, and the response has been overwhelmingly negative. 

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A Hawaiian monk seal resting on the beach on Kauai, Hawaii. There are only about 1,100 left but new nonlethal methods to deter the massive marine mammals have been met with resistance

The monk seal is one of only two mammals native to Hawaii, but there are only about 1,100 left in the wild, according to the National Wildlife Federation.

The population in the northwestern Islands is estimated to be declining at a rate of 4 percent annually.

According to the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, animals like the monk seal ‘should not be permitted to diminish below their optimum sustainable population.’

In late August, the National Marine Fisheries Service, a division of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published a proposed rule in the Federal Register listing various methods to deter marine mammals without killing or seriously injuring them.

A proposal to use paintballs, BBs, slingshots, sponge grenades and other projectiles on Hawaiian monk seals has been called 'horrid' by animal advocates. 'If I see someone shoot a monk seal with a paintball gun I'm doing the exact same to them' one opponent of the plan tweeted

A proposal to use paintballs, BBs, slingshots, sponge grenades and other projectiles on Hawaiian monk seals has been called ‘horrid’ by animal advocates. ‘If I see someone shoot a monk seal with a paintball gun I’m doing the exact same to them’ one opponent of the plan tweeted

That list included paintballs, BBs, foam missiles, blunt slingshots and sponge grenades.

Softer than rubber bullets, sponge grenades are 40-millimeter rounds with foam noses.

They’ve become increasingly popular with police to handle protests because they ‘spread the force of impact out over a larger area, reducing the chance of injury,’ according to The Washington Post.

But using them against marine mammals has been met with resistance: Of the more than 330 public comments the Service received, most were against the non-lethal projectiles, according to the Civil Beat, including one from U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Hawaii), chair of the House Committee on Natural Resources.

‘In the face of climate change, fishing, pollution, and other human pressures, marine mammals deserve more protections – not the unnecessary assault and harassment proposed by NOAA,’ Grijalva said.

The proposed regulation would only allow projectiles to be fired at the seals 'posterior end,'

The proposed regulation would only allow projectiles to be fired at the seals ‘posterior end,’ 

Most of the responses opposed using the method against Hawaiian monk seals, one of the only marine mammals found only in the US. 

Staffers at Ke Kai Ola, a veterinary hospital dedicated to Hawaiian monk seals, called the guidelines ‘lengthy, and difficult for the average lay person to completely read and understand.’ 

‘If this proposed ruling is for the public to understand, most Americans won’t take the time nor understand the ramifications,’ they added.

Reaction online was equally negative: One Twitter user threatened, ‘If I see someone shoot a monk seal with a paintball gun I’m doing the exact same to them.’

The NMFS was also interested in feedback on whether the proposals were appropriate in the context of native Hawaiian culture.

Bertram Weeks, a biologist with the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, said some Hawaiians consider the monk seal the physical representation of an ancestor or a harbinger of natural phenomena.

‘Harming these animals, even in the act of defending one’s catch is extremely disrespectful to the cultural importance that has been given to monk seals,’ Weeks said.

The proposed rule indicated such tactile deterrents could only be aimed at ‘the posterior end’ of an animal, ‘taking care to avoid the animal’s head and blowhole.’

Still, Christine Tarski, a volunteer with Hawaii Marine Animal Response (HMAR), commented that she couldn’t ‘such a horrid rule’ was even being considered.

‘I have witnessed the horrible things people now do or attempt to do to these animals while on shore, including attempting to hit seals with rocks, sticks or even motor vehicles,’ Tarski wrote.

‘If the public witnesses NOAA shooting at seals, even with paintballs or rubber bullets, many people will … assume that it is acceptable to shoot seals or harm seals. We have enough seal abuse and even deaths already without making it seem that it is okay to do so!’

The state’s largest marine conservancy group, HMAR said in a Facebook post in September that ‘certain deterrence methods are needed and used in a variety of scenarios to support effective coexistence between humans and marine mammals.’ .

But the group claimed these strategies were not appropriate when dealing with Hawaiian monk seals.

It urged experts and officials to devise other measures to deter Hawaiian monk seals away from fishers ‘and to promote coexistence.’

The NMFS indicated it, too, would prefer fishermen use other methods before resorting to paintballs.

‘NMFS strongly encourages fishermen, private property owners, and government officials to practice avoidance techniques prior to attempting to deter any marine mammal,’ the agency wrote in the Register. 

‘Avoiding interactions is the safest method for preventing death or serious injury to marine mammals and the most definitive way to minimize risk to human safety.’

It also encouraged a variety of other strategies, including auditory and visual deterrents — including firecrackers, banging pipes, strobe lights and lasers — and modifications to fishing gear, provided they don’t ‘result in the death or serious injury of a marine mammal.’

The NMFS says it will publish the final regulations later this year after it completes a review of public comments.

Attacks by tiger sharks are a major contributor to the decline of monk seals in Hawaii, but the mammals can also run into boats and get caught in fishing nets.

In February, the NMFS reported two monk seal pups died after getting entangled in gill nets, which create a ‘wall’ of filament that indiscriminately ensnares fish and other creatures alike.

‘There was no evidence of underlying disease … and no signs of injury,’ the agency said. But fluid in the seals’ lungs suggest they struggled to breathe before death. Taken together, these findings strongly suggest that both seals died from being held underwater in a net and unable to breathe.’

The Service called the nets ‘one of the top threats monk seals face in the main Hawaiian Islands.’

State regulations forbid the use of the nets from 30 minutes after sunset to 30 minutes before sunrise.