Saving the critically endangered Hawaiian monk seal from extinction requires millions more federal dollars and a widespread effort that includes businesses, organizations and residents, marine experts said yesterday.

The Hawaiian monk seal population has dropped more than 60 percent over the past 50 years, with the animals now numbering fewer than 1,200, the lowest level ever recorded, according to the Marine Conservation Biology Institute. Monk seal numbers have been declining by about 4 percent a year.

"This is America's most endangered marine mammal," said Keiko Bonk, Hawai'i program director for the institute, which yesterday called for more government and community support for the Hawaiian monk seal's recovery.

Bonk said the institute is focusing on building a collective effort among businesses, educational institutions, nongovernment organizations and others in a campaign for more federal funding and support for the Hawaiian monk seal. The institute held a a workshop this week with government officials, environmental organizations and other groups.

Experts said there's still hope for the Hawaiian monk seal. While the majority of the population, in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, face tough survival rates, the smaller population in the main Hawaiian Islands has been increasing. That's probably due to factors including more competition for food sources and more natural predators in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, scientists say.

But much still needs to be done to save the species, from more funding for recovery efforts to simply more awareness and support from the public, they say.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service recovery plan for the Hawaiian monk seal that was released last year calls for expenditures of about $7 million annually, but the federal administration only provided about $2.2 million this fiscal year, said Bill Chandler, MCBI vice president for government affairs.

That limits recovery efforts, such as field staff work in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, home to about 90 percent of the monk seals, Chandler said. He said the recovery plan — which includes research and intervention strategies — has also called for a facility to care for wounded and orphaned seals, which will require millions of dollars.

"We have a lot of wonderful people working on the seal here in Hawai'i," Chandler said. "They're doing a great job with what they've got, but they don't have enough to get the job done. And if we're going to recover the monk seal, they've got to have more money, plain and simple."

The effort also requires more than the government, experts said.

"We have a very solid basic research program that does a lot of the critical things," such as population and disease monitoring and working on techniques to increase female survival, said Charles Littnan, monk seal research head for NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service.

But "we're going to need more resources coming in" from federal sources, non-government organizations and private individuals, he said.

"It's going to be a community effort to save the species," Littnan said.

The monk seal is an indicator species for ocean health around the Hawaiian Islands, said David Schofield, marine mammal response coordinator for NOAA's Fisheries Service Pacific Island Region.

"If the monk seal goes away, we've got other problems that are going to affect us," he said. "Our quality of life is going to be affected because these animals are indicators of the local ecosystem.

"In my child's lifetime or your child's lifetime we could see the extinction, so if we don't do something soon, it will be too late."