Mauritania & Western Sahara

Pupping season on the Côte des Phoques

As of 30 October 2001, 22 monk seal births were recorded during the year at the ‘Cabo Blanco’ (Côte des Phoques) colony. Of these, 10 pups subsequently died, giving a pup mortality rate of 45.40%.

Most of the pups were born during the second half of the year, coinciding with the peak reproductive season in September-October.

One pup didn’t even see the light, but was found as a totally developed fetus inside her dead, stranded mother.

This year, births began to occur during the second half of September. Pups born during this period usually survive since storms and high swells, although occurring throughout the year, are most frequent from October to February or March.

The current year, however, has proven an exception because, from the 7 pups which were born in September, the first 4 perished during several storms that hit the area. Three of these pups were not even found in the breeding caves (during storms and high swell, visibility inside the caves diminishes significantly) but were discovered stranded on the beaches at the south of the colony.

The fourth pup, found to be still alive by the Fundación CBD-Habitat researchers who monitor the colony, was immediately rescued and transported to CNROP (National Centre for Oceanographic Research and Fishing) facilities for rehabilitation.

During October, 11 pups were born at the colony, 3 of which have died so far. – Miguel Angel Cedenilla & Pablo Fernández de Larrinoa, Fundación CBD-Habitat.


Pup rescued at ‘Cabo Blanco’

On 18 September 2001 at 9:45 a.m., Fundación CBD-Habitat researchers observed a monk seal pup being driven by ocean currents at the southern part of the cliffs which form the Côte des Phoques. Any attempt to rescue the pup at sea was judged impossible because of high waves and swell.

Instead, members of the rescue team followed the pup as it was being driven south by the currents, until an open beach offered them an opportunity to recover the animal. They recognised the pup as soon as it was in their arms. It was P-23/01, a female pup born in cave number 1 just 4 days earlier.

The pup rested in the encampment for one or two hours. She was very inactive, with a swollen head (probably from being thrown against a rock by storm waves), and a low temperature. The rescue team subsequently took the pup to CNROP rehabilitation facilities where first aid was administered [see Seal pup in rehab, below]. – Miguel Angel Cedenilla & Pablo Fernández de Larrinoa, Fundación CBD-Habitat.


Seal pup in rehab

On 18 September a stranded monk seal pup was found on a Mauritanian beach by two Fundación CBD-Hábitat researchers, reports the Seal Rehabilitation & Research Centre (SRRC).

The pup was immediately taken to the rehabilitation unit of the National Centre for Oceanographic Research and Fishing (CNROP) in Nouadhibou, established with the technical and financial assistance of the Netherlands-based SRRC.

The pup, a female, was approximately one week old when it was found, measured 118 cm and weighed just 17 kilos. She was suffering from a head wound – the cause of which was uncertain – and an infection around the umbilical cord.

At the CNROP’s request, Marrije Verspuij, head of the SRRC’s seal care department, and Lenie ‘t Hart, founder-director of the Pieterburen operation, travelled to Mauritania to oversee the pup’s veterinary care and rehabilitation. Latest reports suggest that the pup has made an impressive recovery.


Non-infant mortality recorded

Since January 2000, CBD-Habitat researchers have found 8 non-infant monk seal corpses on beaches to the south of the Côte des Phoques colony. Of these, 2 were adults, 4 were subadults, and 2 were juveniles.

One of the adults bore injuries to a foreflipper (it appeared to have been cut), and a fragment of gillnet was discovered in its stomach. A female subadult was found to be carrying a well-developed fetus.

Tissue samples were sent to different laboratories for analysis in the hope of determining cause of death (Virological analysis: S. Kennedy, Veterinary Science Division, Belfast; Histopathology: M. Hernández, Laboratorio Forense de Vida Silvestre, Madrid). – Miguel Angel Cedenilla & Pablo Fernández de Larrinoa. Fundación CBD-Habitat.


Raising issues

Monk seal experts from as far afield as Mauritania, the USA and Greece are expected to arrive in Segovia, Spain on 9 November to attend the 4-day Population and Habitat Viability Assessment Workshop on the Mediterranean monk seal in the Eastern Atlantic. For a preview, please turn to Workshop attracts international attention, International News.


Fisheries under threat

The latest bulletin issued by Pêchecops, Mauritania, and the Coalition for Fair Fisheries Agreements in Brussels, charges that the latest 5-year fishing agreement between the EU and Mauritania “is tantamount to signing the death warrant of Mauritania's national fisheries sector.” The bulletin states that authorised cephalopod fishing boats have been increased from 42 to 55 under the new regime, despite compelling scientific evidence that octopus stocks in Mauritanian waters are already overexploited. The bulletin is available for download in the Monachus Library:

Pêchecops/CFFA. 2001. A new Mauritania-European Union fisheries agreement protocol: overexploitation of Mauritania's cephalopods is up for auction. Pêchecops, Mauritania, & Coalition for Fair Fisheries Agreements, Brussels, August 2001: 1-4.

Turkey

Eleventh hour reprieve for Cilician pups

During the last week of October, SAD-AFAG was informed by the Coast Guard authority that the ban in force against trawling and purse-seining in the Cilician Basin Marine Protected Area had been lifted.

Subsequent discussions with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in Ankara suggested that the decision had been provoked by an administrative error during renewal of the Annual Fisheries Circular, which made the limits of the ban unclear.

The ban was created in 1999 between Cape Sancak (Aydincik) and Cape Kizilliman (Bozyazi), and extended as far as Turkey’s 12-mile territorial limit. While prohibiting all types of industrial fishing, the ban permitted long line and gill net fishing, thereby helping SAD-AFAG’s effort to bring artisanal fishers – the traditional enemies of the monk seal – into the conservation process.

METU-IMS (Middle East Technical University, Institute of Marine Sciences) and SAD-AFAG have been monitoring the recovery of the depleted marine ecosystem for the last three years, and the scientific data that has been gathered clearly demonstrates the necessity of maintaining the trawler ban. Fish stocks have staged a dramatic recovery in the area, benefiting artisanal fishers, monk seals and the marine ecosystem as a whole [see No-Fish-More-Fish, TMG 4 (1): May 2001].

It was, however, virtually inevitable that any resumption of trawling in the area would rapidly wipe out those gains, posing a direct threat to the survival of newborn pups. The area is considered the primary surviving breeding habitat of the monk seal in Turkey, but depletion of the animal’s food source would almost certainly have a negative impact on the recovery of the population.

The Cilician seals, however, were eventually given an eleventh hour reprieve after a barrage of phone, email and fax appeals convinced the Ministry of Agriculture to restore the ban.

We thank our supporters for their prompt action, particularly the Game and Wildlife Protection and Development Foundation, and the United Nations Development Programme, the main sponsor of the Cilician project. – Gül Moran, SAD-AFAG.


Seal observations on Karaburun

SAD-AFAG’s Karaburun Project Office continues to gather monk seal sightings data around the Karaburun Peninsula, which forms the western arm of the Bay of Izmir. In the twelve months since September 2000, 154 observation records have been collected, 24 of which were recorded directly by SAD – AFAG team members. – N. Ozan Veryeri, SAD-AFAG.


Cave research

At least part of Karaburun’s attraction for monk seals must lie in the Peninsula’s largely uninhabited and undeveloped coastline. While the presence of the species has been known for many years, however, considerable gaps remain in our knowledge of the seal’s breeding habitat, particularly along the northern and western reaches of the Peninsula. The issue is of particular significance for the adjacent Foça Specially Protected Area, which has few suitable breeding caves of its own, and for SAD-AFAG’s plans to establish a satellite reserve on Karaburun. Sightings data suggest that both Foça and Karaburun monk seal populations are closely inter-related and may form a single breeding unit [see Commuting monk seals, TMG 4(1): May 2001].

To learn more, the Karaburun team undertook cave research along the north and west coast from 12-15 September 2001 to gain a better understanding of potential breeding locations. Two caves were found during the mission whose characteristics appear suitable for monk seal breeding. – N. Ozan Veryeri, SAD-AFAG.


Pupping season opens

SAD-AFAG researchers have so far counted 3 monk seal pups during the 2001 pupping season. Two pups were found along Cilician Basin coasts in late August and early September, while a single infant was found on the Karaburun Peninsula in October.

During cave checks on 5 October in the Mordogan district of Karaburun, researchers encountered the newborn pup with its mother. On different occasions during the same day, three female seals were observed outside the breeding cave, raising the possibility that Karaburun will see other pregnant seals give birth this season. The new pup, however, faces significant dangers, not least of all from fishing nets that have entangled and drowned a majority of pups born in the Foça SPA and adjacent coasts in recent years [see Snared and Drowned, TMG 4(1): May 2001].

With the pupping season still young, SAD-AFAG hopes for additional births from most of its project areas. – Ali Cemal Gücü & N. Ozan Veryeri, SAD-AFAG.


Premiere in Foça

A 55-minute monk seal documentary premiered at the “Fishermen and Sea Documentaries Festival”, held in Foça from 29 August – 2 September 2001.

Directed by Mustafa Ünlü and Selda Meral, and produced by KA Productions in cooperation with SAD-AFAG, a documentary entitled “The Mediterranean” was filmed along Turkey’s extensive coastline, from Bozyazi in the Mediterranean, to Bodrum, Datça, Foça and Karaburun in the Aegean, and the long coastal stretch from Akcakoca to Sinop in the Black Sea.

The film, which was screened in both Turkish and English, focused mainly on the memories and experiences of fishermen and other locals who had come into contact with monk seals. The documentary also emphasised the importance of the conservation of monk seals as an endangered species, both from ethical and ecological points of view.

AFAG used its own appearance in the film to announce the possible extinction of the monk seal in the Black Sea [see Witnessing the monk seal’s extinction in the Black Sea, this issue]. That tragic news was juxtaposed with footage of the adult male seal called “Derin” – filmed on Çavus Island near Bodrum – that promises new hope for the survival of the species along Aegean and Mediterranean coasts of Turkey.

Various other activities accompanied the film festival, both serious and light-hearted. Apart from a forum on sustainable fisheries, traditional fishermen also participated in boat races, and competitions in repairing nets and tying hooks. The aim of the festival, organised by SAD-AFAG and Union of Documentary Film Makers, was to convince artisanal fishermen that they are an integral part of the marine ecosystem and, as such, must be a key player in marine conservation issues. – Cem Orkun Kiraç & Yalçin Savas, SAD-AFAG.


Monk seal focus at National Geographic

An article on Mediterranean monk seals in Turkey, authored by SAD-AFAG’s Yalçin Savas, appeared in the September 2001 issue of National Geographic’s national edition.

The article, “Son siginak” or “Last refuge”, provides a brief history of monk seal conservation in Turkey as well as basic information about the biology and conservation of the species. A distribution map and unique monk seal photographs taken by SAD-AFAG researchers complete the article.

For Turkish readers, the web site of National Geographic Turkey offers further information about monk seals, and also allows visitors to send monk seal postcards. – Cem Orkun Kiraç, SAD-AFAG.


Two new hopes in the Aegean

Two previously unidentified monk seals were observed by SAD-AFAG researchers in the tourism-intense Bodrum area during the summer [see Cover Story, TMG 2(2): November 1999].

	(click to enlarge)

The first sighting took place in July, when SAD-AFAG’s Foça Project director Yalçin Savas observed a young male seal swimming around Bodrum’s off-lying Çavus Island. The animal was subsequently named “Derin” (which means “Deep”) and took his place among the other identified seals of Turkey in SAD-AFAG’s database.

An adult female monk seal was observed during the same month by Murat Draman, President of the Board of the Underwater Research Society (SAD). The seal was floating calmly in front of an underwater cave entrance on the Karaada Island, south of the Bodrum Peninsula.

The small archipelago, together with the last unspoilt stretches of the nearby Küdür Peninsula are considered critical habitat for the survival of Bodrum’s few remaining monk seals, under intense and increasing pressure from ever-expanding tourism in the area [see Circus time at Küdür, TMG 4(1): May 2001]. – Yalçin Savas, SAD-AFAG.


Guarding complications in Foça

Despite suffering a chronic fuel shortage, SAD-AFAG and the Foça fishermen’s cooperative have managed to maintain limited guarding patrols within the Foça Specially Protected Area. The recent severe economic crisis in Turkey compelled the Local Governorship to slash the fuel allowance for the operation of the patrol boat, the Cevre [see Patrols resume in Foça, TMG 3(2): November 2000]. Bureaucratic complications, in which responsibility for the operation and funding of the boat is shared by multiple government agencies, has not helped matters. Last year, for example, even responsibility for Cevre’s fuel allowance was shared by the Foça Harbourmaster, Foça Agriculture Directorate and the Coast Guard. These problems have inevitably harmed patrolling efficiency.

SAD-AFAG is therefore seeking sponsorship for the full running costs of Cevre, including fuel, maintenance and repair. – Yalcin Savas SAD-AFAG.


New look

Initially launched at the start of the year, AFAG’s web site, www.afag.org, has recently undergone a significant face lift and now features a more detailed look at the organisation’s monk seal conservation and research activities in Turkey. Since February 2001, over 2000 readers have visited the site.

Aside from information on the biology and current status of the species, visitors can also find out how to help the monk seal by supporting AFAG projects or becoming an AFAG member. – Yesim A. Öztürk, SAD-AFAG.