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Madeira
The Sea Wolf
The Parque Natural da Madeira has published an extensive and lavishly-illustrated account of its ten-year crusade to ensure the survival of the archipelago’s Mediterranean monk seal population. Authored by Henrique Costa Neves and Rosa Pires, the 76-page book (O Lobo Marinho no Arquipélago da Madeira – the Sea Wolf of the Madeiran archipelago) recounts the cultural and historical significance of the monk seal to Madeira, and the threats that brought the colony to the brink of extinction in the 1980s. Since then, the establishment of the Desertas Islands Nature Reserve, coupled with other non-invasive conservation techniques, has seen numbers increase from 6-8 survivors to over 20 individuals today.
The book can be ordered directly from the Parque Natural da Madeira at a cost of 4.000 pesetas (20 Euros) plus postage: Parque Natural da Madeira, Quinta do Bom Sucesso, Caminho do Meio, 9050 Funchal, Madeira.
Neves, H.C. & Pires, R. 2000. O Lobo Marinho no Arquipélago da Madeira. Parque Natural da Madeira: 1-76.
Sightings increase on Madeira
Researchers on Madeira are still awaiting results of the season’s monk seal births in the Desertas Islands Nature Reserve. Three pups were born last year, and one joined the colony in July, outside the normal birthing period.
Meanwhile, data suggests that monk seal sightings are increasing on the main island of Madeira, with 13 reports received during 1999, and 12 so far during 2000. Researchers believe that the Madeiran population might be increasing in reaction to the monk seal’s recovery in the neighbouring Desertas Islands. It is thought that rising public awareness on Madeira is also resulting in more frequent sighting reports. – Rosa Pires
Mauritania & Western Sahara
Colony faces red tide threat
Alarm bells sounded in July when several extensive red plankton blooms appeared in the ocean in the vicinity of the Côte des Phoques, home to the world’s largest colony of Mediterranean monk seals.
Researchers of the Spanish CBD-Hábitat Foundation, responsible for monitoring and surveying the Cap Blanc seals, experienced the same anxiety they felt in 1997, when two thirds of the colony were wiped out under mysterious circumstances. Although some scientists attributed the catastrophic die-off to a morbillivirus, there was credible evidence to implicate a "bloom" of toxic phytoplankton species.
Following protocols already established in drafts of the Regional Recovery Plan for the Atlantic, water, fish and mussel samples were immediately collected for analysis. Water and mollusk samples were dispatched to the Vigo Oceanographic Center, which specialises in the study of red tides.
The fears of CBD-Hábitat Foundation researchers increased significantly when, coinciding with the appearance of the suspected algae blooms, two porpoise carcasses were found near monk seal breeding caves. Although minor, fish mortality was also recorded in the same area.
Results of laboratory analysis identified three dinoflagelate species as the most abundant in the water samples. These were Scrippsiella sp., Noctiluca scintillans and Prorocentrum micans. While these species have been described as producing red patches of the type observed, they have never been associated with toxicity problems.
At the same time, a necropsy performed by the Mauritanian National Center for Oceanographic and Fisheries Research (CNROP) on one of the dead porpoises showed that the most likely cause of death was entanglement in fishing gear. The animal’s congested lungs and damaged flippers indicated that after drowning, fishermen cut away the animal to release the carcass from their fishing gear. The other porpoise, a calf, was in an advanced state of decomposition, precluding a necropsy.
On the basis of water analysis results, researchers have concluded that the most likely cause of fish mortality was a lack of oxygen, decrease in the pH value, or other effects produced by the phytoplankton production and decomposition cycle.
While laboratory results proved generally reassuring, Foundation CBD-Hábitat researchers remained on a heightened state of alert for several days. – Pablo Fernández de Larrinoa & Miguel Angel Cedenilla
Season’s recruits
Since July, 18 pups have been born in the Cap Blanc monk seal colony. True to new operating guidelines that seek to minimise disturbance, the pups were detected through monitoring with remote controlled cameras rather than by researchers intruding into the breeding caves. Four of the 18 pups were found dead on beaches to the south of the caves. Weather conditions at this time of the year (from the end of October until March), are marked by storms and high swells, requiring intensive monitoring in order to determine accurately colony productivity and pup survival rate.
Spanish NGO CBD-Hábitat Foundation is responsible for surveillance and monitoring activities at the Cap Blanc colony under a project financed by the Spanish Ministry of Environment and the international conservation organization EURONATUR, based in Germany.
Recognising the importance of local participation in the conservation effort, the project also features social assistance to artisanal fishermen who fish from pirogues in the vicinity of the Cap Blanc colony. The initiative is run in collaboration with the local authorities. – Pablo Fernández de Larrinoa & Miguel Angel Cedenilla
Disturbance levels cut
CBD-Hábitat Foundation researchers at the Côtes des Phoques are seeking to cut disturbance levels in an effort to encourage greater use of open beaches by monk seals and to improve breeding success.
During a meeting held in April in Las Palmas to advance planning of the Regional Recovery Plan in the Atlantic, Madeiran representative Henrique Costa Neves announced that two young monk seal females with nursing pups had been observed making use of open beaches on the Desertas Islands [editor’s note: see R. Pires & H. C. Neves, Monachus Science]. It is believed that this behavioural change, in which monk seals are hauling out on open beaches rather than exclusively using caves to rest, breed and nurse their pups, marks a significant step in the conservation process, in which the animals are reacting to strict protection measures, in force since the Nature Reserve’s establishment in 1990. Regulations on eliminating disturbance cover any circumstances, including potentially invasive scientific research.
The Regional Recovery Plan promoted by Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Mauritania is seeking to achieve a similar level of protection at the Cap Blanc colony, in which human intrusion into breeding caves should be avoided, except under extraordinary circumstances or emergency situations.
Since April, under the framework of the project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Environment and EURONATUR, the CBD-Hábitat Foundation and the Mauritanian military authorities (which control the area) have promoted "no disturbance" measures in the vicinity of the Cap Blanc colony.
The reduction in disturbance may already be showing its first results. Since August, an adult male has been observed hauling-out on a small beach near the main breeding caves on the Côtes des Phoques. It is a beach partially sheltered by a canopy of rock formed by the cliffs above. The event marks the first time that a seal has been observed occupying a beach of this type in the vicinity of the breeding caves.
Researchers hope that if the Côte des Phoques monk seals can recover sufficient confidence to return to open beaches to rest, breed and nurse – areas where they were last observed in the 1950s – population numbers will increase. The colony currently suffers from a high pup mortality as a direct consequence of breeding in caves – most notably because of storm surges. – Pablo Fernández de Larrinoa & Miguel Angel Cedenilla
International workshop planned
Although dogged by controversy in its early stages (see TMG, passim) the Regional Recovery Plan for the Atlantic continues to move towards implementation. Parties to the Plan – Spain, Portugal, Mauritania and Morocco – are reported to have reached broad consensus on a technical draft during a meeting held in Las Palmas in April.
Since then, there have been efforts to allay the fears of critics who believed that the Plan contained unsound scientific methods, and was being pushed towards implementation without sufficient consultation and review.
Spain’s Ministry of Environment (MIMAM), charged with coordinating the Recovery Plan on behalf of the Secretariat of the Bonn Convention (CMS), has requested assistance from the IUCN Breeding for Conservation Specialist Group (Susie Ellis) and the IUCN Seal Specialist Group (Peter Reijnders) to convene an international Workshop to review the Plan.
According to the Coordinator of the Regional Recovery Plan, Luis Mariano González: "Such an event will be held in the first half of next year, and all aspects of the Plan not concretized at the Las Palmas meeting will be discussed, but mainly the aspects relating to the rescue and rehabilitation of pups. The event will be also used to discuss and present the Plan to the relevant experts."
González goes on to note that, while the Plan has yet to be definitively approved, its prospective parties are already implementing certain measures and guidelines on a general consensus basis:
- Mauritania, through the Mauritanian National Centre for Oceanographic and Fisheries Research (CNROP) has implemented early warning measures to confront possible emergencies, such as the August red tide outbreak (see Colony faces red tide threat, above) that ultimately proved non-toxic. Similarly, CNROP is preparing its laboratories and rehabilitation facilities to cater for any sick, wounded or orphaned seals that require treatment.
- CBD-Hábitat Foundation researchers (financed by MIMAM) perform monitoring and surveying activities of the Côte des Phoques colony and, with the Nouadhibou mayoral authorities, participate in public awareness and social assistance schemes among local fishermen.
- Madeira continues to apply its conservation guidelines – many of which are reflected in the Regional Recovery Plan – in the Desertas Islands, where the monk seal population has staged a dramatic recovery during the last decade.
- Morocco is mounting a sighting and monitoring effort along the western Saharan coasts. Its Royal Navy is also patrolling the no-fishing area established along the Côte des Phoques on the Cap Blanc peninsula. To provide early warning of natural threats to the seal colony, the Moroccan National Institute of Fisheries Research (INRH) has offered its technical resources in an effort to detect red tides along the Atlantic coast.
Range states associated with the Plan are now focusing their attentions on organising the International Workshop called for by critics and supporters alike. González believes that while that discussion forum is important to attain consensus, the Recovery Plan must be flexible enough to adapt both to developing human knowledge and to the changing conservation needs of the species.
Critics waiting in the wings
Discussion of the draft Regional Recovery Plan in its current (Las Palmas) form is likely to draw fire on a number of potentially sensitive fronts. Though they may be able to rely on support from other scientific quarters during the discussion forum, the Plan’s most ardent critics to date originate in the department of Animal Biology in the University of Barcelona, whose biologists – led by Dr. Alex Aguilar – became part of research efforts along the Côte des Phoques in 1993, joining Las Palmas University, MIMAM and researchers who later went on to establish the CBD-Hábitat Foundation.
Barcelona’s main objections:
- The Plan is rooted in the belief that human impact is to blame for the monk seal’s precarious status on the Côte des Phoques. Barcelona argues that commercial exploitation of the species finished four centuries ago and that, since then, it has remained essentially unaffected by human pressures.
- Barcelona researchers have been unable to identify any significant human-related threat to the species. Despite a few incidental captures in fishing nets, no evidence in recent years has come to light establishing this as a verified and significant cause of mortality.
- The seal-fisheries interactions in the region that do occur involve the international, commercial fishing fleet rather than local, traditional fishers, making public awareness and compensation activities among the latter irrelevant. Moreover, any interactions with seals are likely to take place in international waters, beyond the jurisdiction of those countries that would become signatories to the Plan.
- The adult mortality rate appears to be extremely low according to population models and the corpses found on beaches. Reproductive rates are about 30% of what should be expected (Gazo et al., Journal of Zoology, London, 249: 393-401). Indeed, the gross reproductive rate of the Cap Blanc colony is said to be virtually half the lowest rates detected in a pinniped population. Despite research conducted by Barcelona in recent years, the causes remain unknown.
- The Plan prevents researchers from entering breeding caves, allowing study only of rehabilitated or dead seals. This, Barcelona contends, will hinder efforts to learn what forces are responsible for constraining population growth and recovery. For much the same reason, rehabilitated animals should be tracked with VHF or satellite tags.
- The pre-emptive collection of pups from breeding caves in an effort to reduce high pup mortality during predicted stormy weather is scientifically untenable and misguided.
New publication claims saxitoxin link
Uncertainty over the cause of the 1997 mass die-off in the western Sahara, which claimed two thirds of the Côtes des Phoques population, caused bitter controversy among scientists at the time, with one faction favouring the morbillivirus theory and the other, a toxic red tide hypothesis.
Following further laboratory analysis of tissue samples, several Spanish researchers believe that there is now additional and unambiguous evidence to implicate saxitoxins in the mass mortality.
Their results are published in:
Reyero, M., E. Cacho, A. Martinez, J. Vázquez, A. Marina, S. Fraga, J. M. Franco. 2000. Evidence of Saxitoxin derivates as causative agents in the 1997 mass-mortality of Mediterranean monk seals in the Cape Blanc Peninsula. Natural Toxins 8: 1-5.
Click here to view an abstract of the paper.
Turkey
Küdür under renewed threat
The Küdür Peninsula is one of the last surviving habitats of the Mediterranean monk seal around Turkey’s heavily touristic Bodrum Peninsula (see TMG 2:2, Cover Story). It was declared a 1st degree natural SIT area by the Cultural and Natural assets Protection Council (Izmir division) of the Ministry of Culture in November 1998, following submission of a detailed AFAG proposal.
Now it appears that certain interests may be intent upon challenging that decision and having Küdür’s protection reduced to 2nd degree status, thereby permitting coastal development in the area.
On 16 September 2000, AFAG received a message from Professor Tuncay Neyisci, Director of the Environmental Issues Research and Application Center of Akdeniz University in Antalya, relating to an environmental reassessment commissioned by Öger Tours, a well-known tour operator based in Germany. Öger’s plans for a holiday village on the Küdür Peninsula had previously been scuttled by the Ministry of Culture decision to accord the area 1st degree protection status. According to information received from Prof. Neyisci, the environmental reassessment would raise the possibility of "co-existence of monk seals and tourism". Despite its well-known stand on the issue, SAD-AFAG was asked to contribute to the concept of converting the Peninsula into a "monk seal-oriented ecotourism region…"
SAD-AFAG replied to Prof. Neyisci, reiterating its firm belief that monk seals in the area cannot survive under increasing tourism disturbance and development pressures. Several scientific reports have reached the same conclusion, including a 1997 study by Istanbul University’s Aqua Products Faculty, funded and coordinated by the Turkish Ministry of Environment.
SAD-AFAG has also pointed out that, among 145 reliable, firsthand monk seal observations in the Bodrum region – including 20 made by AFAG researchers – the highest sightings concentration was on the Küdür Peninsula and around neighbouring islands and islets.
Prof. Neyisci has recently submitted his 11-page report to Öger Tours. Despite AFAG’s efforts in providing scientific data from various sources, the report’s conclusions appear to take no account of the ecological importance of the area. – Cem O. Kiraç & Harun Güçlüsoy, SAD-AFAG
Further reading:
Savas, Y. 1999. How tourism has ruined the coastal habitats of the monk seal on the Bodrum Peninsula, Turkey. The Monachus Guardian 2(2): November 1999.
Kiraç, C.O. 1988. Oil spill at Çavus Island. The Monachus Guardian 1(1): May 1998. IMMA Inc. Guelph, Canada.
Kiraç, C.O. 1999. New monk seal protection areas face uncertain future. The Monachus Guardian 2 (1) May 1999. IMMA Inc. Guelph, Canada.
Kiraç, C.O., & D.S. Polatkan. 1999. Küdür Peninsula declared protected area. The Monachus Guardian 2 (1) May 1999. IMMA Inc. Guelph, Canada.
Johnson, W.M. & D.M. Lavigne. 1999. Mass tourism and the Mediterranean monk seal. The role of mass tourism in the decline and possible future extinction of Europe's most endangered marine mammal, Monachus monachus. Monachus Science. The Monachus Guardian 2(2) November 1999.
Patrols resume in Foça
The patrol boat CEVRE is finally back in action in the Foça Specially Protected Area (SPA). Following a long-running bureaucratic tangle, the vessel is now being operated by a newly established team following the recent intervention of the Local Governor of Foça.
The CEVRE was provided by the Turkish Ministry of Environment in 1993, when the monk seal protection area in Foça was established at the request of the local community and SAD-AFAG. After an active patrolling period between 1993-1995, the boat suffered a serious mechanical problem which could not be fixed due to lack of funding. In 1997, as a result of SAD-AFAG’s efforts, a new diesel engine was bought and installed with funds raised jointly by the Ministry of Environment, the Municipality of Foça and the Governorship of Foça. A protocol detailing CEVRE’s operating procedure was laid down by the Governor of Foça. In accordance with this protocol, the board members of the Foça Fishermen’s Cooperative and SAD-AFAG Foça staff were authorized to take part in patrols as "observers," and port police were authorized to perform their assigned duties onboard CEVRE within the borders of the district of Foça. The Municipality of Foça refused to contribute to the running expenses of the boat, and committed itself only to providing personnel – such as the captain – "in case of necessity."
Meanwhile, SAD-AFAG’s efforts since 1993 to encourage artisanal fisherman in Foça to become involved in fisheries and conservation issues continues to make progress. These subsistence fishermen, recognizing the importance of having their interests represented, were eventually persuaded to join the Foça Fishery Cooperative, a group originally founded by trawler owners. In the last two elections to the board of the Cooperative, the members nominated by the artisanal fishermen were elected as a result of this newly developing interest.
In recognition of its solidarity with SAD-AFAG, the new board of the Cooperative has made serious efforts to help solve guarding problems in the SPA, including illegal fishing. The head of the Environment section of the Governorship, Dr. Mithat Bey, has also provided his full support to these efforts.
The potential financial crisis that loomed following Foça Municipality’s refusal to meet the running costs of the CEVRE was ultimately averted by a decision of the Governor to pay the required amount out his own department’s budget. The Municipality’s offer to provide personnel only in case of necessity, however, continued to block effective operation of the boat. The impasse was again broken by the Foça Governor, who nominated the head of the Fishery Cooperative as captain.
The patrolling system in Foça is now jointly maintained by the Environment section of the Governorship, the Foça Police Department, the Fishery Cooperative and SAD-AFAG. The artisanal fishermen of Foça are encouraged by having a patrolling system in which their interests – through the participation of the Cooperative – are represented, and there has been a noticeable decrease in illegal fishing since August. Despite progress on that front, however, some observers continue to report regular infringements by the tourism industry during the summer months.
Joining the guarding effort in the wider area is a new hi-tech Coast Guard vessel, commissioned for patrolling the outer regions of the Gulf of Izmir (Foça–Karaburun area). Joint operations have been successfully carried out by this vessel and the CEVRE on a number of occasions.
SAD-AFAG is of the opinion that fish stocks and coastal ecosystems can be more effectively conserved on the Turkish Aegean and Mediterranean coasts provided that artisanal fishermen appreciate the importance of being organized into cooperatives. In certain cases, these groups can become powerful enough to finance quasi-independent guarding systems, and to apply pressure on the relevant authorities for better regulations and more effective official patrolling systems. – Yalçin Savas, SAD-AFAG
AFAG greets new sponsor
Negotiations between AFAG and Turkey’s leading bank, IS BANK, have resulted in a one and a half year sponsorship deal, commencing in July 2000. The deal marks a major step forward for AFAG, which has been searching for alternative funding sources for its monk seal and coastal habitat conservation efforts in Turkey.
The signing of the agreement means that IS BANK will now become AFAG’s main sponsor, providing much-needed financial support for research, conservation, lobbying and public awareness activities in Turkey. IS BANK also becomes AFAG’s first Turkish sponsor. Previously, funding and equipment needs have been obtained from international sources, including WWF International, WWF MedPO, WWF Belgium, Germany and Switzerland, the Henry Ford Foundation, the UNDP-GEF Program, and the Prince Bernhard Foundation. Smaller grants or donations have been received from the Seal Rehabilitation and Research Centre, the Van Tienhoven Foundation, the Lucie Burger Foundation, Gruppo Foca Monaca and GSM-Germany.
Despite WWF’s long term support for AFAG, the need for additional finance became increasingly urgent following the collapse of funding initiatives pursued by WWF (see TMG 2:1, WWF Halts Funding of Monk Seal Conservation Projects in Turkey).
Under IS BANK’s sponsorship, AFAG will continue its conservation activities through its established offices in Ankara, Foca (Central Aegean) and Bozyazi (Cilician Basin), and also through a newly established centre on the Karaburun Peninsula. A total of 12 personnel will staff the various AFAG offices. – Cem O. Kiraç, SAD-AFAG
Turk Telekom phone cards
Earlier this year, the Turkish state PTT corporation, Turk Telekom, manufactured 4.5 million public telephone cards depicting a Mediterranean monk seal. These was sold throughout Turkey during the summer of 2000. The cards were produced as part of the "Endangered Animals of Turkey" series, with the aim of increasing public awareness for Turkey’s rich biological diversity. By October, the entire monk seal phone card edition appears to have been sold out.
The photograph used for the card was provided to Turk Telekom by SAD-AFAG as part of its collaborative efforts with government agencies and the private sector to increase public awareness. – Cem O. Kiraç, SAD-AFAG
New office opens on Karaburun
SAD-AFAG opened a new centre of operations on the Karaburun Peninsula in August, a relatively undeveloped region that forms part of the Bay of Izmir. Seal observations, seal attacks on fish farms, and reports of local fishermen have established the existence of the species along Karaburun’s coastline and in neighbouring regions such as Ildir and Çesme. Even more importantly, SAD-AFAG researchers believe that Karaburun shares its monk seal population with the adjacent Foca Specially Protected Area. The office, located in Karaburun town, will be used as a base to further SAD-AFAG’s research and conservation objectives, including the planning and implementation of a protected area and alternative development opportunities. Specific duties will involve:
- Determining monk seal habitat and breeding areas, threats to the species, and the level of interaction with local people.
- Public awareness and education activities in government agencies, schools and among local people.
- Leading and supporting the activities of the Karaburun Local Monk Seal Committee.
- Conducting social and cultural anthropological research (with an emphasis on human interactions with nature) to provide a framework for the sustainable use of the area in agriculture, aquaculture, forestry, and tourism.
Karaburun’s land mass is around 450 km2, with a coastline of about 150 km. The coast is characterised by high cliffs and beaches and, particularly at its northwest reaches, bays where there is still little or no human disturbance. The area is rich in both pelagic and benthic marine fauna. Off-lying islands are generally free of construction and human activity. SAD-AFAG has yet to complete a full survey of the coast but up to now, four monk seal caves have been located, one of which has been judged suitable for breeding.
According to May-October 2000 data, there were 36 seal sightings in the east and northeast parts of the Peninsula. The sightings were mostly of single individuals but there are also reports of two seals swimming together. So far, no mortalities or deliberate killings have been reported.
By the second week of November, a closed circuit video system will be deployed in a cave in Mordogan region where a pup was born in November 1999. The main aim of the study – assuming that there will be another birth this winter – is to monitor the relationship between mother and pup.
As indicated in previous issues of The Monachus Guardian, Karaburun’s monk seal protection area is already on the drawing board. It is expected to cover most of the Peninsula, its borders at Balikliova at the southeast and Gerence at the southwest.
The main threats to the area include construction of secondary housing, illegal fishing activities by industrial-scale fishing boats and divers, pollution by domestic waste, aquaculture and mining industries, and a general degradation in the traditional socio-economic climate that has spurred a migration of local people and a move away from formerly sustainable livelihoods.
SAD-AFAG, working with the Local Monk Seal Committee, is currently basing its research efforts on designing an integrated conservation and management plan which will address these threats. In so doing, it is hoped that sustainable development opportunities for local people will help secure the long-term integrity of Karaburun’s threatened coastal habitats, and its monk seals. – Ozan Veryeri, SAD-AFAG
Stop Press: Just as we were going to press, the SAD-AFAG team in Karaburun announced that a pup, approximately ten days old, and a juvenile monk seal, about one year old, had been observed in a cave on the Peninsula. Both seals appeared healthy. A mature seal has also been seen swimming in the vicinity, and is thought likely to be the pup’s mother. The progress of the pup will be monitored by two closed circuit TV cameras.
Cilician Basin responding to treatment
The population size and even the survival of a species can be determined by four major factors: i) predation ii) suitability of an ecological niche or habitat which fulfils the biological requirements of the species iii) competitors and iv) food availability.
In evaluating these factors for the monk seal colony on the Turkish Cilician coast, we see that there is no predator problem because monk seals are already apex predators in the Mediterranean ecosystem. The degradation of habitat is no longer a threat for the species, because the most important sites along the coast were established as 1st Degree Natural Assets in 1998 (see TMG 1:2, Reserve Areas Established in the Cilician Basin). The major competitors of the Mediterranean monk seal are fishermen with whom they share fish stocks. The intensity of competition between them is therefore closely linked with the fourth factor – food availability.
The Cilician region is characterised by a very steep and narrow continental shelf. Since the fishing ground is confined to the shelf, the total surface area that can be fished is very limited. On the other hand, the coast provides no natural shelter for boats during stormy conditions. Until the early 1990s, when three large fishing harbours were constructed along the coast, the fish stocks in this region remained intact. There were only a very limited number of small scale fishing boats harvesting commercially valuable species. The large scale fishing fleet had yet to develop because of lack of shelter and absence of fish landing facilities.
Following construction of the harbours, however, the trawl and purse seine fishery developed rapidly, bringing about a corresponding depletion of fish stocks. The status of fish stocks in the Cilician Basin have been monitored by the Middle East Technical University Institute of Marine Sciences (METU-IMS ) since the early 1980s. The results of numerous fisheries surveys show that catch per unit of trawling effort (CPUE) for commercial fish species has been drastically reduced by at least ten fold. Due to overfishing, the species composition has also changed, so that valuable commercial fish species have been replaced by small, little-value "trash" fish. The mean age of the commercial species was also remarkably reduced, so that the renewal of the stocks was hindered. Apart from depleting fish stocks, the bottom trawlers’ nets uproot Posidonia, an endemic sea grass which provides excellent habitat for various marine organisms and upon which sea turtles feed, thereby endangering the turtles, the grass and its associates. Biological diversity is thus remarkably reduced.
By 1999 the ecosystem of the region had become so fragile that monk seals, sea turtles, and local artisanal fishermen were all facing starvation due to lack of fish. The entire coastal ecosystem looked all set to collapse unless urgent measures were taken to improve the state of the fish stocks. Then, during the same year, the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs finally banned the large scale fishery in the region. At the same time, SAD-AFAG and METU-IMS initiated a project to monitor the recovery of the fish stocks and the ecosystem.
Today, although a very strict implementation regime has yet to be achieved in the region, it is estimated that the number of trawlers fishing in the area has decreased by 85-90%. Fish stocks have responded positively to the alleviation of intensive fishing pressure. The most recent surveys show that, by the end of the first year of protection, nearly all the fish stocks had experienced a very productive recruitment season. The percentage of sexually mature individuals which are ready to reproduce, are increasing. The demographic structure of the fish populations are now recovering. The catch per unit of effort has also increased significantly. Posidonia sea grass meadows, which had suffered uprooting, fragmentation and regression because of trawl nets being hauled across the seabed, are now expanding.
In what could be another positive response to the protection of the area and the recovery of the ecosystem, a newborn monk seal pup was found on 6 November 2000 by the SAD-AFAG Bozyazi team. – Ali Cemal Gücü
Phokaia to Knidos
SAD-AFAG, which has been carrying out the long-term "Foça Pilot Project" since 1993, received a new grant from the WWF Across the Waters Programme in summer 2000 to bolster conservation efforts of local NGOs on the Karaburun and Datça peninsulas in the Aegean. The two peninsulas are key habitat areas for the monk seal, compromising long stretches of still-unspoilt coastline with significant recent sightings of Monachus.
Karaburun’s local NGO, Karaburun Civil Initiative (KCI) was established in 1996 with the aim of conserving the cultural, social and natural values of the Peninsula. SAD-AFAG’s recently-opened office in Karaburun will liase with KCI on a continuous basis.
The other local NGO, Datça Volunteers for Nature Conservation (DVNC), is based in the village of Palamutbuku, close to the ancient Hellenistic city of Knidos on the southern tip of the Peninsula. Datça Peninsula forms part of 12 Specially Protected Areas in Turkey. DVNC aims to monitor the status of endangered species and the threats confronting them, investigate and expose illegal activities such as hunting, fishing, logging, road and house construction, and also mount public awareness campaigns.
In its wider perspective, the project (Phokaia to Knidos – Capacity Building of Local NGOs) also aims to accelerate efforts to establish a "Turkish Coastal Network" based on the knowledge and experience gained by SAD-AFAG since 1987, and to prepare a "Strategic Action Plan" for both Karaburun and Datça peninsulas. As part of that effort, SAD-AFAG will be attempting to gain further detailed knowledge on the status of the monk seal around the two peninsulas. – Harun Güçlüsoy & Cem O. Kiraç, SAD-AFAG
"Merhaba"
With financial support from WWF Belgium, SAD-AFAG has restored its research boat "Merhaba", a traditional 7.60 m. wooden Trehandiri. Aside from standard maintenance and repair to the hull and engine, modifications were also made to the cabin and mast. Navigational equipment and a marine VHF radio were fitted. Merhaba’s sails and ropes were donated by "Cekim Halat" and the paints by "International", both of Istanbul.
Although owned by an AFAG staff member, Merhaba has been used for monk seal research and conservation purposes since 1996, when it was stationed in the Bodrum area.
Currently based in Foca, the boat will be used for research and monitoring activities along the Aegean coast. One of Merhaba’s first priorities will be a detailed survey of the west coast of the Karaburun Peninsula and the coast between Cesme and Kusadasi, a large portion of which is designated as a 1st degree Ministry of Culture SIT area, forming a preservation zone for marine and coastal wildlife. – Cem O. Kiraç & Harun Güçlüsoy, SAD-AFAG
Research inflatable stolen
SAD-AFAG’s research inflatable, equipped with a 10 HP outboard engine, was stolen in Bozyazi, the base of the Cilician Basin project, on 7 August 2000.
The robbery was reported to the police and gendarmerie but no progress has been made in recovering the boat.
The inflatable was a vital piece of equipment for monitoring, cave-checking and for counting the season’s newborn pups. The loss caused particular hardship for SAD-AFAG researchers during the September–November period, which falls into the pupping "high season" in Turkey.
Finding a temporary solution to the problem, SAD-AFAG transferred its Karaburun Project inflatable to Bozyazi, allowing Dr. Ali Gücü’s team to fulfil its research and monitoring duties. Within hours of the boat’s arrival, the team found a newborn pup, its mother and two juveniles in a sea cave in the Melleç area of the Cilician region (see Cilician Basin responding to treatment, above).
SAD-AFAG is now urgently seeking a sponsor or donation of a new inflatable boat for the Cilician Basin (3.5-4 m. in length, with an outboard engine of 15-25 HP). – Harun Güçlüsoy & Cem O. Kirac, SAD-AFAG
Editor’s note: If anyone can assist the Cilician project in replacing this stolen equipment, please contact SAD-AFAG in Ankara. Alternatively, write to: editor@monachus.org.
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