Mediterranean Monk Seal News II - Monachus Guardian 3 (1): May 2000

Regional Recovery Plan heads for signing ceremony
Science will be undermined, say critics

Conservation of the monk seal’s Atlantic colonies along the disputed Côte des Phoques in the western Sahara continues to make headway – and to make waves.

As indicated in our November 1999 issue, international efforts to establish a Regional Recovery Plan for the species are being channelled through the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (the CMS, or Bonn Convention). Luis Mariano González, of Spain’s Ministry of Environment, has been the leading force behind these moves, which seek to implement scientific study and conservation within an agreed international framework. While this approach may originally have been intended to avert the internecine squabbling that has long plagued conservation efforts in the region, ironically, efforts to streamline or limit the decision-making process appear to be raising the same spectres yet again.

Critics of the Plan believe that it is being pushed through to completion and signing without adequate consultation or review by the wider scientific and conservation community. Similar criticisms were heard repeatedly during previous initiatives in the region, particularly those involving controversial translocation and captive breeding schemes.

Following exploratory talks between designated representatives of the range states, the Recovery Plan became a focus of discussion at the November 1999 Cape Town meeting of the CMS’s Scientific Council. A report compiled by Dr. González was presented at the meeting (see Recent Publications), providing status updates on the monk seal and a brief assessment of conservation initiatives supported by the European Union and UNEP’s Mediterranean Action Plan. The report then goes on to rationalise the Bonn Convention’s involvement in efforts to conserve Monachus monachus, largely on the basis that range states have a legal obligation to safeguard the monk seal from illegal killing, capture and harassment, and its habitat from degradation that might impede movements or migration.

The report then provides a point-by-point breakdown of the various conservation measures envisaged. Aside from its more predictable and mundane components, the conservation wish-list marks a startling departure from priorities pursued during previous efforts in the region. They include plans to:

Within a broad-ranging conservation plan that also addresses everything from fishery problems to education, these three points in particular have become a cause of dispute. Some controversy, of course, might be considered inevitable given the chasm-wide divisions in opinion that climaxed during the 1997 mass die-off. Under these circumstances, an ambitious plan seeking to bridge diverse viewpoints might be considered an accomplishment in its own right.

Critics, however, most notably those involved in monk seal scientific research, charge that a consensus of opinion has only been made possible by castrating the review process and ignoring scientific opinions.

A second version of the Recovery Plan, released in February 2000 to a limited circle, incorporated some fine-tuning to proposed conservation measures. According to information received by The Monachus Guardian, it was at this time that even some of the Plan’s closest supporters began to voice concern that key monk seal experts were being sidelined in the review process. In response to this criticism, the review distribution list was apparently expanded. A third draft appeared in April, following a meeting in Las Palmas of the appointed representatives (or "Working Group") of the range states.

Despite these various versions, the Plan’s components appear to have remained largely intact. Whether this is a testament to the Plan’s broad acceptance among the range state representatives or to its truncated review process appears to be a matter of increasingly contentious opinion.

Political considerations, particularly foreign policy, may also have played an unseen hand. If so, then the allegedly abbreviated review process may reflect the diplomatic tip-toeing required in order to move the Plan through its regional minefield. Despite Morocco’s claim to have established a National Park at the Bay of Dakhla (an intention first raised during UNEP’s Rabat meeting in 1994), this decreed protected status is clouded by the area’s disputed political status and its inaccessibility to researchers and conservationists.

Fisheries also remain a potentially thorny issue both for Mauritania and Morocco, the maritime controlling power of the western Sahara. Industrial overfishing by foreign fleets – including the deployment of new Dutch "Super Trawlers" – the frequency of seal entanglement in nets, and the plight of traditional Mauritanian fishers whose export markets are being undercut by a heavily-subsidised EU fleet, are matters which increasingly demand international study, negotiation and settlement. (Editor’s Note: For further detailed information on the developing fisheries crisis in Mauritania / western Sahara, check out the following publications in the Monachus Library: CFFA 1999a and CFFA 1999b). Irrespective of its willingness to do so, the Bonn Convention is empowered to intervene in this fisheries problem where it concerns the monk seal and ships flying the flags of range states. As the Cape Town report states: "It is important to point out that the Convention applies the term ‘Range States’ to States whose flag[ed] ships are engaged in taking migratory species on the seas, outside national jurisdictional limits."

It is the other contentious elements of the Plan, however, that are now fuelling the most heated debate.

Rehabilitation, an issue that caused such bitter recriminations in 1997, continues to be a focus of dissension according to knowledgeable sources in the region. While some participants in the Recovery Plan have always regarded the rescue, rehabilitation and release of orphaned or injured seals as a legitimate conservation and public awareness tool, other parties have voiced concern that an over-zealous rehabilitation effort may end up losing more lives than it saves.

A particularly controversial aspect of the Plan is the apparent intention to combat the relatively high incidence of pup mortality on the Côte des Phoques, caused by storm surges into caves, by pre-emptively removing pups from their mothers as storm forecasts are received.

"These are healthy individuals," says one anonymous critic, "not sick or wounded animals. And yet in the Plan they are listed as ‘requiring intervention’. Rehabilitation can be a difficult process, and the probability of survival in the caves, even during storms, is statistically higher than in rehabilitation."

Some critics of rehabilitation also believe that the reintroduction of individuals that are genetically weak or predisposed to certain diseases (individuals that might otherwise have died) might have longer-term repercussions for the entire colony.

Rehabilitation is seen by some observers as playing a key role in the Recovery Plan, but that is disputed by Luis Mariano González. Indeed, in a message to The Monachus Guardian, he states categorically that "rehabilitation will not play a key role in the Plan."

Regardless, The Monachus Guardian has recently learnt that the Plan’s associate members are seeking a partnership with the Seal Rehabilitation and Research Centre (SRRC) of Pieterburen, the Netherlands. The SRRC has long-standing experience in the rehabilitation of Mediterranean monk seals and has been a partner in rehabilitation and training programmes in Mauritania, Madeira, Greece and Turkey. SRRC methodology, coupled with an alleged absence of agreed international protocols governing rehabilitation and post release monitoring, caused friction during the 1997 die-off. This prompted the EU-funded project in Mauritania to subcontract the RSPCA’s Norfolk Wildlife Hospital for its rehabilitation needs, despite the latter’s inexperience with monk seals. As a direct consequence of that decision, and of the mistakes it engendered, the rehabilitation of the pup known as Juanito took 11.5 months rather than the 4 months that is customary. Doubts have also been cast on the decision of the Canary Islands contingent of the project to remove the pup from the cave in the first place. In a reflection of current concerns, critics also suggest that the pup was taken as a pre-emptive measure, rather than out of imminent concern for its welfare.

According to one government participant, a final round of meetings in the Canary Islands in April has now settled remaining differences between the parties to the accord. "Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Mauritania have now reached unanimous agreement on the plan," our source told us. "It will be a good plan with a firm emphasis on recovery and protection rather than pure academic study. Academics will oppose the plan, but our first priority is conservation."

All types of invasive research have now been stricken from the Plan, presumably obliging researchers who gather their data in the Côtes des Phoques caves to either cancel their programmes or to find new, non-invasive methods of gathering information.

Some critics, however, insist that the invasive research that is implemented in the Côte des Phoques, rather than being of idle academic curiosity, is actually fulfilling conservation objectives internationally mandated by the scientific community. They point, for example, to the taking of blood samples which are analysed for the presence of the morbillivirus. This course of action was approved by the international Workshop that was convened in Amsterdam following the 1997 mass die-off.

Illustrating the polarisation of opinions on the issue, critics of recent research on the Côte des Phoques accuse scientists of causing unnecessary stress and disturbance to seals for information of dubious conservation value.

While some believe that a lack of consultation and review has "dug a trench between science and conservation", others believe that a "hands off" approach – exemplified by the success of Madeira, where invasive scientific research is prohibited in seal caves – is now warranted. Indeed, one of our sources suggests that the conservation management plan that has served Madeira and the Desertas Islands so well in recent years will be the model used for the Côte des Phoques.

According to one government member of the working group, parties are expected to sign the final version of the accord in Nouadhibou, Mauritania, in late May.

That, however, is disputed by the coordinator of the Regional Recovery Plan, Luis Mariano González, who insists that there will be no imminent signing. Dr. González also expressed "surprise that… [there] seems to be controversy and debate about the Plan. I [have] heard nothing about this inside the working group."

Critics caution against any undue haste in signing the agreement, insisting that an international action plan of this kind should only be endorsed following open and transparent review by the wider scientific and conservation community. According to these critics, an international workshop should be convened to review the Regional Recovery Plan at the earliest opportunity.

Only time will tell whether yet another promising conservation initiative for the region falls victim to internecine warfare. Positions seem to be hardening on both sides, despite the fact that there appears to have been little effort expended in reaching a compromise. Perhaps that effort should be considered before it is too late. If not, it may be just another case of the good-intentioned snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Editor’s note: The Monachus Guardian, which has received, from official sources, a copy of the third draft of the Regional Recovery Plan for review and comment, has endeavoured to represent the views of all sides as accurately and as impartially as possible. It has provided drafts of this news item to several key parties, and has revised the contents according to the responses received.

CFFA. 1999a. Fishy Business. ACP-EU Fisheries Relations: Who benefits at what cost? Part 4. When David meets Goliath: EU-Mauritianian fisheries relations. Coalition for Fair Fisheries Agreements, Brussels: 1-6. [Available in the Monachus Library]

CFFA. 1999b Coalition for Fair Fisheries Agreements (CFFA). Newsletter N°8, September 1999: 1-4. [Available in the Monachus Library]

CMS. 2000. Plan de recuperation de la phoque moine dans l’Atlantique Oriental. Convention du Bonn (UNEP/CMS). Deuxieme Brouillon. Fèvrier 2000. Ministerio de Medio Ambiente & Fundacion CBD-Habitat, Madrid, Spain: 1-30.

González, L. M. 1999. Update on the situation of the Mediterranean monk seal (English translation). In: Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. Scientific Council of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. 9th Meeting, Cape Town, 4-6 November 1999: 1-16 + 6 maps.

Harwood, J., D. Lavigne, & P. Reijnders. 1998. Workshop on the causes and consequences of the 1997 mass mortality of Mediterranean monk seals in the western Sahara. Amsterdam, 11-14 December 1997. IBN Scientific Contributions 11. International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW); Institute for Forestry and Nature Research (IBN-DLO), Wageningen, the Netherlands: 1-32.

Acknowledgement: Our sincere thanks are extended to the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Agreements (CFFA) in Brussels, who have agreed to make their above-cited publications available in the Monachus Library. The CFFA can be contacted at the following address: ICSF Brussels Office / CFFA, Rue du Midi 165, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium. Tel: 02 513 15 65. Fax: 02 513 73 43. Email: gilletp@skypro.be.

University of Barcelona researchers have been holding planning and logistics meetings in Mauritania, preparing their next campaign on the Côte des Phoques, scheduled to start in July.

Visits to the study area also allowed a brief assessment of monk seals occupying the caves, which lie at the foot of steep cliffs, north of the Mauritanian border in disputed territory.

A group of 15 seals were observed surrounding Cave-3, including one juvenile female born in June 1999, several other previously-identified individuals, and at least four new pups born this year. Two, born in January, had already moulted entirely. Having shed their dark pelage, they had taken on the greyish colour typical of juveniles. The third young pup, which was observed to be finishing her moult, is thought to have been born at the beginning of February.

The fourth pup sighted was lying close to its mother. Its small size and black pelage led the researchers to believe that it may have been born at the end of March or during the first days of April. – Manel Gazo, University of Barcelona.

The Seal Rehabilitation and Research Centre (SRRC) of Pieterburen, the Netherlands, is publishing a report on the controversial 1997 mass die-off of monk seals in Mauritania / western Sahara. The report, originally compiled from field notes and observations gathered by the National Centre for Oceanographic Research and Fishing (CNROP) and SRRC-affiliated veterinarians, will be made available in French and English. The die-off, which claimed two thirds of the world’s largest surviving monk seal colony, proved particularly contentious as scientists sought to isolate its cause. Divided scientific opinion at the time blamed both toxic algae and a morbillivirus outbreak. Although never satisfactorily resolved because of uncertain data, the forthcoming CNROP/SRRC report speculates that both viral and algal agents may have been to blame for the lethal outbreak.

The report may be obtained directly from the SRRC. A download version will be made available in the Monachus Library in due course.

A 25-minute video film of SRRC and CNROP activities during the 1997 die-off is also available from Pieterburen. To obtain a copy, please write to the SRRC specifying the format and language you require. The video is available in PAL and NTSC, in English, Dutch or French.

As predicted in the November issue of The Monachus Guardian (Winners and losers in LIFE), European Union SMAP funding has been granted to the WWF’s Mediterranean Programme Office in Rome (WWF MedPO), SAD-AFAG’s long-term financial lifeline and conservation partner. The decision effectively ensures the financial viability of Turkey’s leading monk seal efforts for a further two years.

Entitled Conservation and Management of Biodiversity Hotspots: Developing a Mediterranean Network, the 4-project initiative is to focus on endangered species and habitats in Lebanon, Morocco, and Turkey. The effort will be co-ordinated by WWF MedPO in partnership with local NGOs.

A key objective of the project is to demonstrate how sustainable environmental practices can achieve conservation aims while providing tangible socio-economic benefits to local stakeholders.

In recognition of SAD-AFAG’s long-term efforts, the monk seal initiative will continue to focus on the species’ habitat in the areas of Foça, Karaburun and the Cilician Basin. Specifically, the projects seek to:

In collaboration with the Middle East Technical University – Institute of Marine Sciences (METU-IMS), SAD-AFAG has already accomplished one of these objectives – the "No Fishing Zone" in the Cilician Basin (see Ban on trawlers preserved in protection zone, below). Team members in the area are now working hard to ensure that its legal status is respected. – Cem O. Kiraç & Ali C. Gücü, SAD-AFAG.

A pup born in November last year in a known breeding cave on the Karaburun Peninsula was found dead by SAD-AFAG researchers two weeks later. A necropsy revealed that the animal had drowned, and researchers have concluded that the seal was a victim of entanglement in fishing nets. According to information received, a fisherman had set his nets very close to the cave on the day of the pup’s death. With seals believed to cross regularly between Karaburun and the adjacent Foça SPA, SAD-AFAG is campaigning to have parts of the Peninsula set aside as a sanctuary. The pup’s death underscores the perils of incidental entrapment to the monk seal (see When Fishermen Save Seals, this issue). SAD-AFAG researchers believe that in the Central Aegean region of Turkey, entanglement might represent one of the most severe threats to the survival of recently weaned pups. – Harun Güçlüsoy, SAD-AFAG.

Artisanal fishing cooperatives continue to join legal moves against the Ministry of Agriculture, challenging the legality of the Annual Aqua Products Circular 33/1 in Turkey’s high court for administrative and constitutional cases. The disputed Aqua Products Circular seeks to regulate commercial fisheries during the 2000 season (see Court action follows artisanal fisheries symposium, TMG 2:2). Fishing cooperatives from Cesmealti, Balikliova, Foça, Dikili and Karaburun have now joined several other artisanal fishing groups and conservation organizations (including SAD-AFAG) as plaintiffs in the case. The court complaint views the Aqua Products Circular as biased towards industrial-scale seining and trawling, activities which are exhausting coastal fishing grounds and are having a severe impact on the livelihoods of traditional fishers and on the survival of the monk seal.

Of 17 sites in Turkey classified as important for Monachus monachus by SAD-AFAG, METU-IMS and TUDAV (Turkish Marine Research Foundation), five are likely to become "Monk Seal Conservation Areas" (MSPAs). That appeared to be the consensus of opinion to emerge from the 14th National Monk Seal Committee meeting, held in Ankara on 27 December 1999.

SAD-AFAG proposed that Areas 6 and 7 be considered a single entity because of their close proximity to each other, and the likelihood that monk seals move between both areas.

As indicated in last year’s May and November issues of The Monachus Guardian, National Committee members representing tourism, yachting and transport interests lodged objections to the proposed protected areas, particularly Area 10 on the Bodrum Peninsula, a major tourist centre. At the urging of the Ministry of Environment, however, it appears that critics have been persuaded that the protected areas will not impede growth and development. In what is being called an encouraging sign, Turkey’s powerful Ministry of Development has indicated that it will now add the protected areas to its development strategy plans, provided that Conservation Planning Codes are well defined for each area to guide local government, municipalities and investors.

A draft version, prepared by SAD-AFAG, TUDAV and Ministry of Environment staff, divides the Codes into two: General Codes to be implemented in all areas, and Special Codes designed according to the specific needs of each area.

Special Codes to be applied to individual MSPAs are currently being evaluated by a Technical Sub-Committee of the NMSC. – Cem O. Kiraç & Ali C. Gücü, SAD-AFAG.

The Turkish PTT issued a monk seal stamp on 1 February 2000 to "commemorate the millennium". Like many Telecom and IT ventures that purport to see a corollary between the "information revolution," developments in communication, and awareness of global development and environmental problems, the Turkish Postal Service took the opportunity of reminding the nation that 2000 had been declared the Year of Protecting Biological Diversity. First day covers provided basic information on the monk seal’s biology and rarity, compiled by the WWF affiliate in Turkey, DHKD (the Society for the Protection of Nature), and SAD-AFAG. A limited issue, 602.000 monk seal stamps (each with a face value of TL 300,000) were printed, and they will be on sale only for 6 months. – Yesim A. Öztürk, SAD-AFAG.

A chronic bureaucratic tangle continues to frustrate effective guarding of Turkey’s flagship monk seal reserve, the Foça Specially Protected Area (SPA). Foça’s unfortunate patrol boat, the Cevre, has been sidelined for months on end because of mechanical damage, funding shortages, disagreements over official responsibility (Monachus Guardians, passim), and now, to top it all, rivalry between various state and local government agencies appointed to operate the craft. As already reported on numerous occasions, ineffective guarding in the past, particularly during the summer months, has compromised the integrity of the SPA. Tour boats have been observed sailing within a few meters of sensitive monk seal caves, and artisanal fishers have complained bitterly about an increase in illegal fishing activities. For all its faults, a protocol designed to share responsibility for the patrol boat’s operation between multiple agencies has been drawn-up and endorsed, the boat is mechanically sound, and funding for its operation has been guaranteed. What remains inexplicable to the international conservation community is why the Cevre is still languishing in port.

Following both domestic and international appeals (see Breaking News index), the Turkish government has preserved a ban on industrial trawling along 16 miles of protected coastline in the Cilician Basin. Trawlermen had exerted heavy pressure on the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs to lift the ban, jeopardising a 5-year monk seal conservation programme by the Middle East Technical University’s Institute of Marine Sciences and SAD-AFAG. As in most of the eastern Mediterranean, the welfare of local, subsistence fishermen in the Cilician Basin is inextricably tied to overfishing pressures by industrial fleets, and to the survival of the last Mediterranean monk seals.

A TV monitoring system is being installed in one of the caves frequented by monk seals in SAD-AFAG’s Mediterranean Project area, on the south coast of Turkey.

Inside the cave, the surveillance system is composed of three monochrome TV cameras sensitive to infrared (IR) illumination, two IR illumination sources and a microphone. Sound and images captured in the cave will be transmitted to a monitoring station about 2 km away via a broadcast link system. Here, seal activities in the cave will be observable on a switcher-equipped monitor, and can be recorded on VHS video tapes.

The cave units and transmitter are fed by 12 and 24 volt batteries, recharged by solar panels, while the observation station equipment and the receiver will run on mains power (220 V).

The first test run of the system is planned for the second week of May. If it performs as anticipated, the system will allow SAD-AFAG researchers to monitor four monk seal individuals that are expected to frequent the cave until the end of August. The system will then be moved to a known breeding cave.

SAD-AFAG hope that the surveillance equipment will allow researchers to gather valuable information on the in-cave behaviour of the monk seal, including little-studied aspects of mother-pup relations and relationships between other "family members". The broadcast seal images may also turn into a powerful public awareness tool. SAD-AFAG plans to release real-time images of the seal cave via a special web page, allowing an international audience to share a unique moment: observing one of the world’s shyest and most endangered species in its own environment.

The monitoring system has been made possible thanks to the financial support of WWF Belgium and Turkish battery producer MUTLU. – Yalçin Savas, SAD-AFAG.

An ability to produce healthy offspring is crucial for the survival of any species. The number of healthy pups produced each year therefore becomes an important benchmark for those involved in the conservation and study of Mediterranean monk seals. The fate of the species depends almost entirely upon those recruited to the population. At the same time, the seal’s breeding success is also dependent on the overall health of the ecosystem in which it lives. Any detrimental influence on any component part of an ecosystem can limit the number of offspring produced, thereby reducing the probability of survival. Urbanisation and overfishing pressures compromise the monk seal population’s ability to successfully reproduce. Breeding success may therefore be considered an indicator of the health of the surrounding ecosystem, and in turn, of the effectiveness of any conservation measures that may be applied.

Since conservation efforts were launched in the beginning in 1994, 8 monk seal pups have been born in the Cilician Basin. Only one, Umit, failed to survive (dying when she was 3 days old). During October last year, two more pups joined the Cilician Basin monk seal family – a promising sign for the fate of the species in the region and a motivating force for the SAD-AFAG team working for their protection.

With the new births of the winter season, the number of identified members of the Cilician Seal family has now reached 21. – Ali C. Gücü, METU-IMS & SAD-AFAG.

DHKD and SAD-AFAG researchers travelled to Dalaman in the southern Aegean in November, to investigate plans to build a tourist marina.

Dalaman beach is one of 17 major nesting sites for the endangered marine turtle Caretta caretta. The eastern end of the beach – the location of the planned marina – is characterised by complex and fragile ecosystems, including lake, river, wetland and marshland, as well as beach ecosystems. The area also incorporates a rocky shoreline with caves both above and under water, that has been identified as monk seal habitat.

Beach studies have shown that the minimum sea turtle nesting density is 10 nests per kilometre, despite an Ege University report that claims "no nests" can be found in the area. Even during the November survey, remains of a predated nest and pieces of eggs were discovered. The river and lake ecosystem also hosts the Soft Shell Nile Turtle Trionyx triunguis, which is also endangered.

As a result of their investigations, DHKD and SAD-AFAG has recommended to the government that: