Action timeline

January 26, 2000 – The Center, Greenpeace Foundation, and the Turtle Island Restoration Network filed suit against the National Marine Fisheries Service for allowing the operation of a lobster fishery and bottomfish fishery in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

November 20, 2000 – A Hawaii federal judge found that the Fisheries Service had violated the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act in allowing the operation of a lobster fishery and bottomfish fishery in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, which were depleting an essential food source for monk seals and invading their critical habitat. The judge issued an injunction halting the lobster fishery and declared a portion of the bottomfish fishery also in violation of the law.

July 2, 2008 – The Center, KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance, and Ocean Conservancy filed a petition requesting that the federal government protect areas in the main Hawaiian islands as critical habitat for the Hawaiian monk seal.

October 3, 2008 – The federal government reacted positively to our petition, announcing it would consider designating areas in the main Hawaiian Islands as critical habitat for the seal.

June 11, 2009 – The National Marine Fisheries Service announced it would designate critical habitat for Hawaiian monk seals in the main Hawaiian Islands and expand critical habitat in the northwestern islands.