Sporadic sightings continue in southern Italy

Following the photographically documented monk seal sighting in southern Sardinia in August 2000 [see Sighting spurs government action, TMG 3(2): November 2000], three other observations were subsequently reported from the same region and from southern Puglia. A summary of each sighting record is described below:

A survey to identify monk seal cave habitats, an awareness building programme directed at the local elementary and middle school, an information campaign aimed at tourists visiting the Marine Protected Area of Capo Carbonara (southeastern Sardinia) and a medium term monitoring project is expected to start after the second week of May 2001. It will form a collaborative effort between the MPA of Capo Carbonara and ICRAM, and will involve the participation of the local cooperatives in charge of the educational awareness and monitoring activities planned within the Marine Protected Area's 2001-2002 management programme. – Giulia Mo, ICRAM.

Researchers for the Parque Natural da Madeira continue their monitoring activities in the strictly protected Desertas Islands and the Ponta de São Lourenço on the easternmost tip of Madeira. During the winter breeding season, two newborn pups were counted, one of which was found dead after particularly harsh weather conditions. An autopsy indicated that the most likely cause of death was drowning. The pup had also sustained injuries to its limbs consistent with being tossed about in heavy seas.

A third young seal was also observed, although it was not possible to determine whether it was born during this or the previous breeding season.

Sightings data suggest that monk seals may be recolonising the main island of Madeira as the recovering population on the Desertas Islands begins to disperse in search of new habitat. [For an in-depth look at this promising development, turn to this issue’s In Focus].

Two protected areas on Madeira have been established to help encourage this recolonisation, the Rocha do Navio Natural Reserve on the north coast and the Ponta de São Lourenço Natural Reserve in the east [see News from Madeira’s Newest Reserves, 2(1): May 1999]. The latter is, at present, only a terrestrial reserve, although a marine protection zone is planned as the area is incorporated into the Natura 2000 Network. A biological station has already been established in the Rocha do Navio and wardens currently patrol this remote area several times a week. A permanent warden presence is planned for the future. – Rosa Pires, Parque Natural da Madeira.

Recovery Plan outlines objectives

The Regional Recovery Plan for the Atlantic, coordinated by Dr. Luis Mariano González of Spain’s Ministry of the Environment, continues to move towards official ratification, according to the most recent reports (see Mauritania & Western Sahara news, TMGs passim).

Operated under the auspices of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS, or Bonn Convention) the Plan links the range states – Madeira (Portugal), the Canary Islands (Spain), Morocco and Mauritania – in an ambitious conservation effort aimed at encouraging the recovery of existing monk seal colonies and the natural recolonisation of the species’ former habitat.

Key components of the Plan include:

• Creating a network of new and existing marine protected areas.
• Regulating fishing activities that affect seals or their food sources, including the legal requirement that fishing techniques employed must reduce the risk of incidental capture in fishing gear.
• Rescue, rehabilitation and reintroduction of “at-risk pups”.
• Encouraging the monk seal’s return to historical habitat more favourable for pup survival – mainly open beaches sheltered from waves and terrestrial predators.
• Ensuring tranquillity in breeding and resting areas by restricting access to monk seal caves, including regulation of research activities.
• Social assistance schemes to help local, artisanal fishermen.
• Non-invasive research that will step up data gathering and continue to monitor monk seal populations and habitat.
• Environmental education and public awareness to bring the conservation message to local people.

Plan envisages network of protected areas

A central objective of the Plan is the creation of a Network of Special Areas of Conservation for the Monk Seal (SACMS), with each contracting state proposing “priority” or “of interest” monk seal habitat for inclusion in the Network.

A preliminary list includes the following areas:

• Ponta de São Lourenço at the easternmost tip of Madeira.
• The Desertas Islands and Selvagens Islands (Madeira).
• Islets to the north of Lanzarote and the west coast of Fuerteventura (Canary Islands).
• Cap Tarfaya, Cap Barbas-Guerguerat and the Côte des Phoques of the northern Cap Blanc Peninsula (western Sahara, under Moroccan control).
• Cap Blanc Peninsula, L’Etoile-Levrier Bay and Banc d’Arguin (Mauritania). 

(click on image to enlarge)

The Plan calls for the participating states to institute a series of conservation measures in support of these SACMS, including management plans, regulatory measures to minimise the impact of fishing, and action to avoid potential habitat deterioration. States are also asked to commit themselves to conducting environmental impact assessments on any development project that might prove injurious to monk seals or their habitat.

The Desertas Islands colony has been a strictly protected reserve area since 1988.

By creating additional protected areas within the seal’s historical distribution range in the Atlantic, the Recovery Plan aims to ensure “that once the seals start to recover, they will have enough well-conserved habitat for recolonization to occur naturally.”

This marks a significant departure from previous initiatives in the region which sought, ultimately unsuccessfully, to capture and translocate monk seals from the Côte des Phoques to the Canary Islands.

The establishment of an international protected area is envisaged for the Cap Blanc Peninsula north of the Mauritanian border, which holds the single largest colony of Mediterranean monk seals on the so-called Côte des Phoques (Coast of Seals). Politically, the area is still viewed as disputed territory although Morocco remains the de facto controlling power.

The Recovery Plan, while making no direct reference to long-running political disputes in the region, expresses the hope that an international protection area will safeguard the seal colony from disturbance and fishing pressures, thereby encouraging the animals to make use of wider habitat options, including open beaches (see Encouraging wider habitat use, below).

According to a recent progress report provided by Luis Mariano González, Morocco has already established a marine protection area at the Côte des Phoques, thus necessitating the creation only of an exclusively terrestrial protection zone in order to complete the international reserve.

Enforcing strict regulations against illegal fishing is seen as essential to the success of the reserve, particularly as fishing by foreign industrial fleets is intense in the region.


Encouraging wider habitat use

Advocates of the Recovery Plan believe that the Côte des Phoques colony will always be vulnerable to potential catastrophic events – an epidemic, a toxic algae bloom, a cave collapse – unless it can be encouraged to lessen its dependence on the excessively narrow habitat it now occupies.

Although its cause was never pinpointed definitively, in 1997 the colony was struck by a mass mortality event that wiped out two thirds of the population. Rival theories implicated both a morbillivirus and a ‘red tide’ toxic algae.

Widening monk seal habitat preference, researchers believe, can only be accomplished by drastically reducing disturbance, thereby encouraging seals to re-occupy open sandy beaches which were once historically used by the species. Recent experiences at the Desertas Islands and on the Côte des Phoques suggest that monk seals will return to beaches if they feel confident enough to do so (see Monk seal sightings on open beaches in the Desertas Islands – Madeira archipelago and Disturbance levels cut, Mauritania & Western Sahara News TMG 3(2): November 2000).

It is also hoped that a habitat transition of this kind will help cut high infant mortality rates at the colony by providing pups greater protection from winter storms. Because of their relative position, storm waves can surge into the caves, dashing weaning pups against the rocks or washing them out into the ocean to drown.


High infant mortality continues to plague the Côte des Phoques

Researchers for the Madrid-based Fundación CBD-Hábitat, monitoring the Cap Blanc breeding colony at the behest of the Spanish Ministry of the Environment (see Mauritania & Western Sahara, TMG 3(2): November 2000), believe that high pup mortality rates are seriously jeopardising the recovery of the population.

Indeed, the latest Recovery Plan update paints a bleak picture of pup survival at the colony, stating:

“…since June 2000 to the present, 10 pups, 1 juvenile and 3 adults have been found dead on the beaches south of the colony. As regards productivity, since July 2000 to the present, the births of 25 pups have been recorded, 14 of which survived. However, of the 10 pups born in the autumn-winter season 2000-2001, only one survived; in other words, 90% of pups born in the storm season perished, keeping up the colony’s high neonate mortality rates.”

It is here that rescue and rehabilitation may end up playing a particularly controversial role. Despite drawing fire from certain quarters, the latest draft of the Plan continues to recommend the pre-emptive removal of pups from the caves as storm forecasts are received.

Those favouring the measure, however, believe that such action is essential to cut infant mortality and to save the lives of pups that would otherwise perish.


Workshop expected to convene in October

Further refinement of the Plan (including its technical support document drafted by Fundación CBD-Hábitat) is expected to take place during a Population and Habitat Viability Assessment (PHVA) Workshop, scheduled to take place this autumn in Spain. Controversial aspects, most notably the issue of pre-emptive storm rehabilitation of pups, promises some lively debates.

The Workshop is being organised in collaboration with the IUCN Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG), led by Ulysses Seal.

Source

González, Luis Mariano. 2001. Report on the Action Plan for the Mediterranean Monk Seal in the Eastern Atlantic. Ministerio de Medio Ambiente, Spain, April 2001: 1-5.


Ban on fishing aids Banc d’Arguin

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) announced on 3 March that Mauritania would take action to safeguard the Banc d’Arguin National Park from exploitation by European Union and other industrial fishing fleets. The new restrictions may offer some help to Mediterranean monk seals. Although this World Heritage Site has no resident Monachus population, there are sporadic sightings, probably of juvenile stragglers from the Côte des Phoques to the north.

According to WWF, Mauritania is to ban all fishing, except artisanal, non-motorised fishing by local communities, in the 12,000 km2 coastal wetland covered by the Park’s boundaries.

Meanwhile, renegotiation of fisheries agreements in the region are likely to pose continuing threats to the marine environment, according to the CFFA, the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Agreements based in Brussels. Both EU-Mauritania and EU-Senegal fisheries pacts are currently subject to intense economic bargaining, yet it is the apparent non-renewal of the EU-Morocco agreement that may ultimately have the greatest impact. In recent years the EU has been deploying an armada of some 500, mainly Spanish, fishing vessels in Moroccan-controlled waters, but with the termination of the agreement, these are now searching for new marine pastures.

According to the CFFA, this fishery – largely targeting cephalopods – is crucial in Spain, being a labour intensive activity involving regions highly dependant on fishing. As such, says a CFFA spokesperson, “political pressure will be huge on the EU to force states like Sénégal and Mauritania to open their waters to these “homeless” Spanish boats – despite decreasing resources (well documented in both Mauritania and Senegal) and booming local artisanal fisheries.”

For further information, consult our CFFA downloads in the Monachus Library.

Pew award to fund tissue bank

Alex Aguilar, professor of Animal Biology at the University of Barcelona, has been named a recipient of the Pew Marine Conservation 2001 Fellowship prize. The award was conferred in recognition of various achievements, according to an accompanying announcement. These included pioneering “innovative methods to address species conservation including development of the first biopsy darts to obtain skin and blubber tissues from free-ranging cetaceans at a distance and practical application of chemical profiles to identify populations of animals.” Aguilar, the statement continued, has also been at the forefront of international rescue initiatives, leading “United Nations emergency efforts to save the endangered monk seal colony affected by a mass mortality event in Mauritania in 1997.”

Aguilar has stated that he will apply his fellowship award – worth $150,000 – to establish a genetic and ecotoxicological tissue bank on endangered cetaceans and monk seals in the Mediterranean, relying on both existing collections and new field sampling.

Surveys planned for La Galite

Shortly before we went to press, it was announced that a cooperative venture between RAC/SPA (Regional Activity Center for Specially Protected Areas, Tunis) and ICRAM (Istituto Centrale per la Ricerca scientifica e tecnologica Applicata al Mare, Rome) had been established to determine whether the Mediterranean monk seal continues to survive in northern Tunisia. Research efforts are to focus on the former stronghold of the species in the region, La Galite archipelago, now a popular tourist haunt.

A 15-day survey conducted during July 2000 failed to locate any survivors, although it is thought possible that a monk seal presence in the archipelago may have eluded detection.

Italian researchers suspect that sporadic sightings of seals in southern Italy and Sardinia may, in fact, be of individual stragglers undertaking seasonal movements between that region and the north African coast.

Aside from research, the project also plans a public awareness campaign aimed at tourists, in the hope of reducing high disturbance levels in monk seal habitat. The partnership also plans to advance conservation objectives in the region by encouraging the Tunisian authorities to protect La Galite.

Despite promises spanning a decade or more, La Galite has yet to be established as a national marine park with an effective management plan.

The full text of the survey and conservation plan is available in the Monachus Library:

Ouerghi, A., G. Mo, F. Di Domenico, H. Majhoub. Assessment of Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) habitat at La Galite, Tunisia: towards a monk seal conservation strategy in northern Tunisia and nearby waters. RAC/SPA, Tunis; ICRAM, Rome; ANPE, Tunisia: 1-3.