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Cover Story: Action and Action Plans
In Focus: The Historical Presence of Monk Seals in the Tuscan Archipelago
Letters to the Editor: Monk Seals in Pantelleria

Breeding Season at the Desertas Islands

The Desertas Islands Nature Reserve was legally established in May 1990 by a Regional Decree issued by the Parliament of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, Portugal.

At that time, the monk seal colony at the Desertas had dwindled to 6-8 animals, mainly due to interaction with fishermen. Intensive use of gillnets had severely depleted fish stocks, and monk seals were drowning after becoming entangled in the nets.

Following the establishment of the Desertas Islands Reserve, conflicts between seal and fishermen declined significantly, and the protection of the species and its habitat was strictly enforced, enabling the population to gradually recover.

Female seals on the Desertas tend to give birth around October/November every year. In the 1997 season, three pups were born, two of them on a open beach at Deserta Grande – a phenomenon last recorded almost forty years ago. Since that time, monk seals have attempted to escape from human disturbance by resting and breeding inside deep sea caves.

During the most recent breeding season (1998), a newborn pup was observed in early December, and a few days later, after a week-long storm, a dead newborn pup was found floating in the bay of Callhau das Areias, in the southwest of Deserta Grande.

Research suggests that these were the only two pups born during the last breeding season, representing a reduction over the previous year.

However, the surviving pup (named Euro), is now described as ‘a healthy, 1.50m long and plump juvenile seal’, and Reserve officials and researchers are guardedly optimistic in their wait for this winter’s breeding season.

With Euro’s recruitment to the colony, the Desertas Islands is now believed to be home to at least 21 monk seals.

News from Madeira’s Newest Reserves

As indicated in previous issues of The Monachus Guardian, two new protected areas for monk seals have been established on the main island of Madeira. One is at the Ponta de São Lourenço, the easternmost tip of Madeira, which for centuries has provided a habitat for the species. While the Ponta de São Lourenço has retained its wild and inaccessible character – there is no road into this remote area, where towering cliffs plunge into the Atlantic – during the last two decades, seal numbers fell dramatically, mainly due to dynamite fishing and the intensive use of gillnets.

A survey carried out by the Nature Park of Madeira in 1993 found that the north shore of the peninsula has a total of 55 caves, 17 of which were judged well-suited for monk seals despite the prevailing north/northeast trade winds and rough seas.

With the aim of achieving the protection and recovery of the São Lourenço monk seals, the Regional Government of Madeira acquired, under a EU-sponsored Life project, the entire land area of the peninsula. The only house existing on the peninsula was rebuilt to serve as a station for Park Wardens.

In the meantime, São Lourenço and its surrounding waters (up to a depth of 50 meters), have become a part of the Natura 2000 Network within the Macaronesian bio-geographic region (codes 1160, 1250, 5331, and 8330).

Legal protection two years ago brought fishing activities under strict control, and monk seal surveillance and monitoring is now carried out on a regular basis. Wardens are permanently based at the Casa do Sardinha station. Intermittent sightings of monk seals are being reported around the peninsula, encouraging the hope that the species will gradually recolonise its former habitat, most probably from the nearby Desertas Islands.

Not far from Ponta de São Lourenço, on the north coast of Madeira, is another former monk seal habitat – the Rocha do Navio (the Rock’s Ship, where a Dutch galleon ran ashore in early 19^th century). Monk seals have been reported in this remote and unspoilt area since the settlement of the island in the 15^th century, and even today individuals are occasionally sighted during the summer months.

As in other parts of the archipelago, interaction with fishermen led to the virtual disappearance of monk seals from this area. Aiming for the species’ recolonisation of the Rocha do Navio, two years ago the Parliament of the Autonomous Region of Madeira approved legislation creating a new marine reserve (Regional Decree, 11/97/M of 30th July). The area comprises a significant portion of the coast, from Ponta do Clérigo to Ponta de São Jorge, extending to a sea depth of 100 meters. Within the marine reserve, use of fishing nets and spearguns is prohibited.

The Nature Park of Madeira, in collaboration with the city council of Santana in the north of the island, is constructing a Warden Station in the reserve, which is also to incorporate a visitor and educational centre. This will be situated on an agricultural plateau bordering the sea to which access is only possible via a stone stairway carved into the 300 meter cliff face, or by a winch system. The station is expected to open during the summer.

The Reserva Natural da Rocha do Navio is also included in the Macaronesian Natura 2000 Network (codes 1250, 5331 and 8330).

Monk Seal Book to be Published

Henrique Costa Neves and Rosa Pires, who are leading the Nature Park of Madeira’s conservation efforts, are currently putting the finishing touches to a book celebrating a decade of monk seal protection and recovery in the archipelago.

The 120-page, fully illustrated volume, entitled ‘The Monk Seal (Monachus monachus) in Madeira Archipelago’, includes sections on the history of the species in the Atlantic (from the 15^th to the 20^th century), on morphology and biology, and on the conservation activities implemented in Madeira during the last decade. Special attention is also paid to knowledge gathered during the non-invasive research that has characterised Madeiran conservation efforts, such us feeding, reproduction, thermo-regulation, habitat use and behaviour.

Other sections of the book are devoted to the new protected areas established for monk seals, the Ponta de São Lourenço Nature Reserve and the Rocha do Navio Nature Reserve.

A Portuguese version of the book will be available in July. Depending on budget constraints, an English version is also planned.

Pup Disappears at Sea… News Disappears in Blackout

As indicated in our last issue (Mystery Surrounds ‘Captive’ Pup), Spanish researchers have created a virtual news blackout on all information surrounding the rehabilitation of a monk seal pup in Mauritania.

Controversy has dogged various aspects of the initiative, including the exclusion of the Mauritanian government’s CNROP (Centre National de Recherches Oceanographiques et des Peches), the location of the rehabilitation site, and what has been termed the ‘mysteriously long’ 9-month rehabilitation period.

According to informed sources, the pup was released at the beginning of January, together with a telemetric (satellite) tracking device. Despite this high-tech gadgetry, and more traditional post-release monitoring efforts, it is alleged that the pup disappeared in short order, leaving scientists to puzzle over the animal’s whereabouts. Observers are finding it somewhat ironic that a previous rehabilitation and release effort organised by the Spanish team’s ‘rivals’, the Seal Rehabilitation and Research Centre of the Netherlands, came under heavy and sustained fire for not utilising satellite tracking. The disappearance of one particular pup under their care was subsequently attributed to almost certain death and negligence. This time, academic debate and finger pointing has been somewhat muted.

At the same time, for reasons that have never been fully disclosed, the RSPCA’s Norfolk Wildlife Hospital (NWH) appears to have gradually distanced itself from the rehabilitation effort.

The RSPCA has told The Monachus Guardian that ‘NWH’s role in the project was an advisory one to the Spanish vet who was in charge of the rearing and release of the pup. Our information is that the pup was successfully reared and released and that it was the intention that a satellite tag be deployed for purposes of post release monitoring. Unfortunately we have no first hand knowledge of the outcome of this part of the project.’

The organization has been assured that a full report will eventually be released by the Spanish team and its veterinarian.

National Strategy to be Launched

As indicated in our last issue (Laying Down the Law), the Mauritanian government intends to avoid any repeat of the fierce controversy and internecine squabbling that may have jeopardised rescue efforts during the 1997 mass die-off of monk seals in the Western Sahara.

Emergency funding donated by GEF-UNEP in the wake of the crisis was eventually allocated to ongoing initiatives, rather than to reimburse various agencies for expenses incurred during the die-off. The two Mauritanian institutions responsible for monk seals, the Banc d’Arguin National Park (PNBA) and the CNROP, were provided with funds to draft a National Strategy for the Conservation of the Cap Blanc Monk Seal colony. A first draft of this Strategy, together with an Action Plan and an Emergency Plan was completed in December 1998, authored by Azza Jiddou (CNROP) and Jean Worms (PNBA), and is presently undergoing internal review. An external review is expected to commence in due course.

It is not known, at present, whether these plans will be affected by the recent departure of the director of the PNBA, Gabriel Hatti.

Corpse Discovered

The PNBA has announced that the corpse of a young seal (1.35 m) was recently discovered, stranded about 80 km north of Nouakchott. While an advanced state of decomposition provided researchers with few useful samples, it was noted that the animal’s forehead was badly fractured, possibly suggesting collision with a boat. However, no trace of characteristic propeller wounds could be seen. Two skin samples were collected for eventual DNA analysis.

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