Federal and state conservation enforcement officials are investigating the death of a Hawaiian monk seal found Sunday in northeastern Kauai.

It is the fourth death of a Hawaiian monk seal under suspicious circumstances since November, said officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Two deaths were on Kauai and two on Molokai.

Hawaiian monks seals are designated as a federal endangered species. Killing one is a crime punishable by up to a year in jail and a $50,000 fine.

Officials said the Hawaiian monk seal found Sunday died under suspicious circumstances, but they did not release details, pending an investigation.

State conservation enforcement branch chief Francis Mission said he was awaiting a report by federal officials in an attempt to determine the cause and time of death. A necropsy was completed Monday.

The seal was identified as RA16, nicknamed “Noho,” a male about 3 years old who grew up in Kauai waters, said Jeff Walters, NOAA marine mammal branch chief in Hawaii.

Walters said Noho was last seen in good condition on April 18.

Walters said that if seals are being killed intentionally by humans, doing so will not solve anything.

“I just hope that if people have concerns, they come to us and talk to us,” he said. 

Walters said his office wants to work with people who fish and with ocean users to improve ways to reduce perceived conflicts.

“We believe that people and the Hawaiian monk seals can coexist on the main Hawaiian Islands,” Walters said.

In early January a Hawaiian monk seal, about 2 to 3 years old, was found dead under suspicious circumstances, also in northeastern Kauai, he said.

On Molokai two Hawaiian monk seals died suspiciously late last year. Their bodies were found on the south shore, one in November and the other in December.

Because of ongoing investigations, officials have not disclosed the cause of the death in those three cases except to say they are suspicious in nature.

A pregnant Hawaiian monk seal was killed on Kauai in April 2009, and a dead male Hawaiian monk seal was found on Molokai in December 2009. 

Since 2001 the Hawaiian monk seal population has been declining by more than 4 percent annually in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands and increasing in the main Hawaiian Islands.

Some fishermen, fearing a reduction in their catch, have opposed an expansion of the critical habitat of monk seals from the Northwest Hawaiian Islands to the main Hawaiian Islands.