Bulgaria

Those keeping track of monk seal sightings in the colourful and often highly imaginative habitat of the postage stamp [see Monk Seal Philately, TMG 3(2): 2000] may be interested to hear of a Bulgarian block issued to commemorate the “International Day for the Protection of the Black Sea.”

That particular sentiment may be somewhat belated where Monachus monachus is concerned – the species is reliably considered extinct in Bulgarian waters and may only be a heartbeat away from meeting a similar fate throughout the remainder of the Black Sea [see Witnessing the monk seal’s extinction in the Black Sea, 4(2): November 2001]. The centrepiece of the block is a 0.65 lev stamp depicting the flat fish Scophthalmus maeoticus. On the borders that compose the block are depicted a dolphin (probably Delphinus delphis), a gull and a seal.

The eradication of the species from Bulgaria, coupled with a liberal dose of philatelic poetic license, may go some way towards explaining why the seal’s depiction is more reminiscent of a monkey than a monk...

Facts & figures Country Bulgaria Michel catalogue Block 250 Issue date 31 October 2001 Theme International Day for the Protection of the Black Sea Value 0.65 lev

Greece

A two-day official visit to Alonissos, Northern Sporades, by Greece’s Deputy Minister of Environment, Ms. Rodoula Zisi, appears to have restored a vital measure of confidence in the future of the country’s first National Marine Park.

Disenchanted by more than a decade of inaction [see The Islands at the End of the Line and All at sea – Adrift in the Northern Sporades Marine Park, 4(2): November 2001], conservationists, fishermen, taverna owners, hotel and tour agency operators alike assembled in Alonissos’ port town, Patitiri, on 15 March to hear the deputy minister answer a question that has been haunting the NMPANS ever since it was first established by Presidential Decree in 1992: when will a management authority be appointed to oversee the long-term planning and day-to-day operation of the Park?

To her credit, Ms. Zisi faced the seemingly intractable NMPANS dilemma with characteristic intensity, hosting a Town Hall meeting to hear local opinion and encourage public debate, undertaking the long pilgrimage to the Biological Station at Gerakas to learn more about monk seal conservation spearheaded by MOm, and holding a press conference to deliver the government’s verdict:

• The long-awaited NMPANS Management Authority will be formally established by June 2002.
  
  
• “Board members” of the Management Authority will include local stakeholders whose economic interests are tied to the NMPANS, such as the fisheries and tourism sectors. NGO conservation interests will also be represented (considering its long involvement in the Northern Sporades and its national scope, MOm would obviously be the common sense choice).

	Deputy Minister of Environment, Ms. Rodoula Zisi (centre), visiting the MOm-operated Biological Station at Gerakas

While some observers have attributed this apparent burst of official energy to campaign vote swaying in upcoming local elections, it is likely that EU legal action against Greece over delays in the National Marine Park of Zakynthos [see Challenge in the Ionian, this issue] is also playing a role in government anxiety over the state of the NMPANS.

Although it may be in the nature of politics to invite public cynicism over questionable motives and broken promises, those convinced of the government’s sincerity in this instance also point out that the Deputy Minister has a personal interest in seeing the NMPANS management issue resolved once and for all. Rather than being an unelected civil servant – the type of official normally assigned to deal with the NMPANS – Deputy Minister Zisi is also Member of the National Parliament for Volos, the Prefectural capital of Magnesia, of which Alonissos is a part.

That is not to say that it will all be plain sailing from here. Even with the best of intentions, bureaucratic delays in Greece tend to be the norm rather than the exception. While the Management Authority may be formally constituted in June as publicly announced, it remains unclear whether it will actually be able to function as intended until the Council of State has ratified its founding legal framework.

Conservation and business interests alike have generally applauded the Deputy Minister’s announcement, believing that the Management Authority will finally be able to help the NMPANS achieve its full potential, particularly in integrating economic development and ecotourism opportunities into the conservation process.

It has to be said, however, that even the Management Authority’s most ardent supporters are likely to face a twinge of anxiety when it convenes for the first time and sets about taking strategic decisions that may alter the future of the Marine Park and lives of its inhabitants forever. The NMPANS, after all, has operated in a kind of legal twilight zone for years, and although this took its inevitable toll on public support and goodwill, protection of the Mediterranean’s largest surviving colony of monk seals has been a conservation success story. That has only been possible by maintaining restrictions that have shielded the population from potential harm.

The danger now is that the Management Authority – simply by reflecting its diverse constituency that justifiably views the Park as being far more than a monk seal refuge – may choose to implement measures potentially injurious to the colony. Such decisions might include re-opening the core zone to traditional fishing, relaxing restrictions on tourism in specific areas, and assigning exclusive responsibility for guarding to state agencies unmotivated by the ecological importance of the area. Despite such potential pitfalls, it is commonly acknowledged that the Marine Park will only have a meaningful future at all if and when the diverse voices of stakeholders are heard through the Management Authority.

Although Deputy Minister Zisi took great pains to convince the Alonissos public of her commitment to the Marine Park, mixed signals are still emanating from the Environment Ministry in Athens. The government has been relying on NGO commitment and generosity for a good number of years to implement essential scientific research, guarding and educational activities in what is, after all, a National Marine Park. Despite a clear contractual obligation to reimburse MOm for these projects, however, not one Euro has been received by the NGO since 1 January 2001, a lapse that is already threatening to disrupt the organisation’s other conservation priorities.

A young monk seal pup was found abandoned on the coasts of the Eastern Aegean island of Lipsi on 3 December 2001. After administering first aid on site, MOm’s Rescue Team transferred the seal to the Rehabilitation Centre on Alonissos [see The Islands at the End of the Line, 4(2): November 2001] by way of Leros and Pythagorion, but the pup failed to respond to treatment, eventually succumbing to a lethal infection. A subsequent necropsy confirmed that the pup – named Andreas by MOm – had suffered from a systemic infection, probably viral in nature. – Jeny Androukaki, MOm.

Uncertain causes

MOm’s Rescue Team also performed two other seal necropsies during the winter period, the first involving a pup discovered on 24 October 2001 by MOm researchers in the National Marine Park of Alonissos, N. Sporades (NMPANS). Found partially buried by rocks in a known seal cave, the animal had sustained multiple injuries. According to the findings of the necropsy, performed at the Biological Station of Gerakas on Alonissos, the pup had probably been driven onto the rocks during storm conditions.

A second necropsy was performed in Karpathos on 14 November 2001 on an adult male seal that had clearly sustained a serious back injury. Cause of death, however, could not be determined because of the animal’s advanced state of decomposition. Although it remains uncertain whether the seal sustained its back injury before or after death, further clues are being sought by means of a comparative photographic study, in which images of the necropsy are compared with those contained in a database of animal injuries (caused by boats, propellers etc.). – Jeny Androukaki, MOm.

Following established practice, MOm’s research team continued to monitor key monk seal habitat during the winter pupping season. According to the final tally, 8 pups were born in the Northern Sporades Marine Park, 9 in Kimolos-Polyaigos in the Cyclades and 3 in Karpathos-Saria in the Dodecanese. Kimolos-Polyaigos and N. Karpathos-Saria are designated Natura 2000 sites where MOm, under a 4-year EU-LIFE funding grant, is actively engaged in research and monitoring, education and public awareness, pilot surveillance, and MPA management design in consultation with local communities [TMGs, passim]. Kimolos-Polyaigos has been proposed as a marine park, while Karpathos-Saria, with support from local inhabitants, is slated to become an eco-development area.

The two prospective reserves are home to significant colonies of monk seals. Between 1997 and 2000, the population in Kimolos-Polyaigos was estimated at 30-45 seals by MOm researchers, while 15-25 individuals were thought to inhabit the North Karpathos-Saria complex.

Despite repeated pleas from Karpathos, from MOm and the international conservation community, the Greek government still appears to be dragging its feet in formalising the legal status of the two protected areas. – Panayiotis Dendrinos, MOm.

MOm continued to push its education and public awareness campaigns during 2001. Around a 100 educational presentations were carried out at the Zoological Museum of the University of Athens up until the end of May last year, while two electronic libraries were set up for children in the relatively remote communities of Kimolos and N. Karpathos, key areas in the campaign to establish marine reserves.

Sixty MOm volunteers enabled five Information Centres to be operated during the summer months, in Patitiri, Steni Vala, Gerakas and Skopelos in the Northern Sporades, and in Diafani in N. Karpathos. Around 15,000 people visited the Centres.

Groundwork for future progress in the field of environmental education also continues.

During January 2002, meetings were held with junior and senior level teachers from the islands of Kimolos and Karpathos, as well as with Coordinators for Environmental Education on the islands of Milos and Rhodes. MOm emphasised the monk seal’s ecological importance, and also seized the opportunity to showcase its own conservation efforts through the EU LIFE programme.

In Karpathos, children attending the elementary and nursery schools of Olympos and Diafani were acquainted with the rare marine mammal living in their midst and afterwards coloured the seal’s underwater world in imaginative drawings. – Maria Dimitropoulou, MOm.

An initiative linking Greek and Turkish monk seal NGOs in a 14-month cooperative venture has run its course, with both sides expressing their satisfaction with the results. Funded by the Greek Ministry of Environment [the Bilateral Development Cooperation and Assistance Programme], the project allowed MOm and its Turkish counterpart, SAD-AFAG, to share valuable work experience in science, conservation and management through project exchange visits. In July 2001, a 6-strong SAD-AFAG team made its way to Alonissos for an introduction to monk seal conservation activities in the Northern Sporades Marine Park, while MOm biologists and staff members made their reciprocal trip to Turkey in September, visiting the Foça Specially Protected Area and the Karaburun Peninsula.

MOm and SAD-AFAG staff members at the Biological Station at Gerakas, Alonissos

Workshop-style discussions enabled the two organisations to identify the most promising avenues for the exchange of technical expertise, while field demonstrations allowed the teams to compare respective methodologies, particularly in population monitoring, surveillance and guarding

As an integral part of the program, MOm provided its Turkish neighbour with various educational equipment and field gear, donated by the Ministry of Environment, Spatial Planning and Public Works. A special poster was designed to commemorate the partnership [Greek-Turkish liaison, TMG 4(2): November 2001]. Acknowledging its value to their respective conservation and research efforts, both organisations have voiced the hope that their fruitful cooperation will continue. – Kalliopi Gorgorapti, MOm.

January-February 2002 saw seven national, two Cycladic and two Dodecanesian television channels broadcast MOm’s seal conservation message as a free public service announcement. In recognition of MOm’s efforts to establish new protected areas in the Aegean, the importance of Kimolos and North Karpathos was emphasised. The message appeared 242 times during the allotted period, ratings statistics revealing that 83.4% of the TV audience between the ages of 25-54 viewed the announcement on average 6 times per person. Greek TV stations agreed to broadcast the message following its approval as a public service announcement by the National Broadcasting Commission. Advertising agency Adel Saatchi & Saatchi, Modiano S.A. Television & Cinema Productions also donated time and resources in preparing the message for broadcast. – Maria Dimitropoulou, MOm.

According to recent reports in the Greek press (see Ta Nea, 7 February 2002], archaeological excavations on the Eastern Aegean island of Rhodes have unearthed an ancient burial ground containing both monk seal bones and human remains.

Archaeologists investigating the site believe that the skeleton of the seal, buried near an ancient wall in the vicinity of the island’s commercial port, is more than 2000 years old. The fact that the seal was honoured with proper burial marks a unique discovery in Greek archaeology.

Athens daily Ta Nea reports that the archaeologist in charge of the excavations, Lefteris Platon, “says that the ancient Greeks used to bury their beloved animals, mainly dogs, but that the case of a buried seal is a first. He suggests that the animal may have frequented the area, tame or semi-wild, evoking the love of people who conferred proper burial rites upon it after death.”

Dog bones, and the remains of 5-6 human adults, were found in the same burial ground.

The seal skeleton has been measured at 1.70m and has been conserved by the Archeological Service.

Italy

In the summer of 2000 a monk seal sighting was photographically documented in the MPA of Capo Carbonara, situated in southeastern Sardinia [see Sighting spurs government action, TMG 3(2): November 2000]. Other observations were subsequently reported from the same region and from southern Puglia during the course of the same year. Monk seal sightings have continued to be signalled during the course of 2001 and up until a few weeks ago. A summary of each sighting record is described below.

Note: This information is part of a database on monk seal sightings shared between ICRAM and Gruppo Foca Monaca.

Although monk seal observations in Sardinia are a rare but not unusual event, the repeated reported sightings of a phocid during the spring of 2002 along the Ionic coasts of southwestern Italy are a puzzling event, especially since the species’ presence in this area was last documented in 1903. The absence of photographic documentation does not allow further conclusions and confirmations but the sightings must nevertheless be taken into account in view of phocid movement and dispersal capacity. – Giulia Mo, ICRAM.