MASS TOURISM and the MEDITERRANEAN MONK SEAL (continued)
W.M. Johnson & D.M. Lavigne

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The accumulated evidence suggests that the mass tourism industry serving the Mediterranean region has played a major role in the decline and extirpation of Mediterranean monk seal populations in several key areas including France and Corsica, Spain and the Balearic islands, Croatia, Italy and Sardinia, and Tunisia. It has, in addition, been implicated in the historical decline of the species in Madeira, which almost resulted in its extirpation in the archipelago, requiring a costly recovery effort. Even more crucially, it continues to pose a serious and immediate threat to the last surviving strongholds of the species, most notably in Greece, Turkey and Cyprus (where the species is now virtually extinct).

Many of the factors that make the Mediterranean monk seal vulnerable to tourism pressures are well known. The species is shy and retiring, and is particularly sensitive to human disturbance. The species requires suitable cave and beach habitats in order to breed successfully – areas that are particularly prone to human disturbance.

While it was once hoped that rugged and inaccessible island coasts would form a last refuge for the species against human disturbance and persecution (Kühn 1930, Sergeant et al. 1979), a boom in pleasure boating, diving and speargun fishing has succeeded in bringing tourists to even these once isolated areas (Fig. 12) (Anderson 1978, 1979, Johnson 1988). The May to November pupping season, overlapping with tourism’s high season, is believed to have a severe impact on reproductive rates (Anderson 1978, 1979, Sergeant et al. 1979, Ronald & Yeroulanos 1984). Tourist disturbance has caused mothers to abandon their pups, or even to abort their young (Anderson 1978, Ronald & Duguy 1979, Ronald & Yeroulanos 1984). In addition, the species’ relatively recent habitat adaptation, exchanging open beaches for more secure sea caves, poses its own risks. Storm surges can wash young pups out into the sea to drown or become stranded, eventually perishing from hypothermia (Johnson & Lavigne 1999).

Arguably, these factors alone would appear to make the species inherently incapable of surviving in areas increasingly dominated by mass tourism.

However, our review demonstrates that there are also many other related factors which combine to make mass tourism a major and imminent threat to the species’ continuing survival. These include the industry’s role as a driving force of habitat deterioration, its effects in spurring seasonal demand for fish, thus contributing to overfishing pressures and hostility towards seals by coastal fishers, its impact on protected areas, and finally, its apparent hostility or indifference to the fate of the species.

Rather than representing a single, uniform factor, mass tourism confronts the monk seal with multiple threats that it is ill-equipped to deal with. In terms of habitat degradation, the species may simply be nearing the end of the line. While centuries of persecution may have been responsible for driving monk seals away from sandy beaches to inhabit the most remote and desolate shores, tourism pressures now appear to be forcing the animals to inhabit caves that are inherently unsuitable for their long-term survival (Johnson & Lavigne 1999).

Despite various appeals over the years, the tourism industry has generally demonstrated indifference towards the plight of the Mediterranean monk seal and, in certain cases, even hostility towards the creation of marine protected areas or sanctuaries.

In spite of the fact that even relatively minor changes in corporate policy might, for the monk seal, spell the difference between survival and extinction, there is currently no evidence to suggest that the industry is prepared to recognise any moral or financial responsibility for its impact upon Europe’s most endangered marine mammal. This places an additional, and often onerous, burden upon conservation projects that must (through activities ranging from public awareness campaigns to the design and guarding of protected areas) address the specific threats generated by the tourism industry.

The accumulated evidence strongly suggests that tourism’s historical threat to the monk seal also has severe ramifications for the future survival of the species. Unless prompt and concerted international action is taken to persuade the tourism industry to become a constructive partner in the conservation process, there are compelling reasons to believe that it will almost certainly ensure the extinction of the Mediterranean monk seal.

Acknowledgements

The authors express their thanks and appreciation to the following individuals and organisations for sharing their thoughts and experiences on the issue of tourism and monk seals: Eugenia Androukaki (MOm, Greece), Pakis Athanasiou (Alonissos Ecological & Cultural Association, Greece), Panos Dendrinos (MOm, Greece), Harun Güçlüsoy (SAD/AFAG, Turkey), Gerald Hau (European Nature Heritage Fund, Germany), Cem Kiraç (SAD/AFAG, Turkey), Aliki Panou (Archipelagos – Marine & Coastal Management, Greece), Rosa Pires (Parque Natural da Madeira, Portugal), Yannis Vlaichos (Alonissos Ecological & Cultural Association, Greece), Vrassidas Zavras (MOm, Greece).

Preparation of this paper was made possible through the continued support of the International Marine Mammal Association and the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

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