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Vol. 8 (2): December 2005 |
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The last issue?The future of The Monachus Guardian is unfortunately in doubt following our failure – at least, so far – to attract necessary funding to continue publishing the journal. Realising the significant role it has played in monk seal conservation over the years, and the growing readership it enjoys, we are determined to keep the web site operating and – time permitting – to publish news from the monk seal world on at least a biannual basis. In that spirit, we are able to bring you the latest issue of The Monachus Guardian, albeit in a much-reduced format. Regular readers will note the absence of key departments of the journal – Guest Editorial, Cover Story, In Focus, Perspectives, and Monachus Science. We hope that these sections will be restored should adequate funding be obtained in the months ahead. In the meantime, we are obliged to focus our limited editorial, research and publication efforts only on the most urgent news affecting the monk seal and its habitat. We also continue to publish the Letters to the Editor section, a listing of Recent Publications, and contributions of PDF papers, reports etc. to the Monk Seal Library. Any leads on possible funding avenues that might keep The Monachus Guardian alive and kicking would, of course, be gratefully received. A document detailing sponsorship opportunities and benefits is available to potential supporters – please contact us for further information at editor@monachus-guardian.org. Due in no small part to the network of correspondents who have submitted news, opinion, articles and scientific papers over the years, The Monachus Guardian has built up a real readership base of at least 30,000 people – among them, students, teachers, researchers and journalists. Realising the significance of this collective achievement, we are doing whatever we can to continue publishing, and we take this opportunity of thanking all of you who have voiced support for the project. – William M. Johnson.
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The Monachus Guardian is the only dedicated source of news and information on the world’s endangered monk seals, their shrinking habitat, and the forces threatening their survival.
With a voluntary subscription or a simple donation, you can help us and our partner organisations in the field bring monk seals and their conservation to a growing international audience – decision makers, scientists, schools and universities, journalists and many others.
By acting as a forum for international debate and information exchange between geographically divided groups, www.monachus-guardian.org fulfils long-established recommendations of conservation action plans for the species.
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Nominally the coordinator of Mediterranean monk seal conservation internationally under the auspices of the Mediterranean Action Plan of the Barcelona Convention, UNEP’s Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RAC/SPA), tabled renewed calls for urgent action by governments on behalf of Monachus monachus in recent meetings in Athens, Greece and Portoroz, Slovenia.
A preparatory National Focal Points meeting in Athens on 21-24 September 2005 considered a draft declaration and a set of recommendations on the monk seal to be submitted for approval to the Contracting Parties of the Barcelona Convention at the Portoroz meeting on 8-11 November 2005.
In documents prepared by RAC/SPA, the UN body responsible for implementation of the Action Plan for the Management of the Mediterranean Monk Seal, laments that “this species will shortly become extinct in the Mediterranean unless urgent and strong measures are taken to protect it.”
It called upon the Contracting Parties to adopt a draft Declaration on the conservation of the monk seal, and to consider action on a range of issues critical to the species’ survival, including deliberate killing by fishermen and habitat destruction. There was no direct reference to previous controversial and scientifically unreviewed proposals by RAC/SPA to resort to capture and translocation experiments [see Mystery at RAC/SPA, TMG 6 (2): December 2003].
The document curiously calls upon the parties to make the “best possible use of the positive experiences in Alonissos (Greece) and Foça (Turkey) to extend protection and conservation actions to all the other known Mediterranean areas”, apparently oblivious to the management, guarding and funding failures in both areas of late [see “When at last are you going to deal with the environment, Mr. Minister?” TMG 8 (1): May 2005; Snared and Drowned, TMG 4(1): May 2001].
In its 2005 progress report, RAC/SPA also implies its funding, too, is insufficient to meet the needs of the conservation programmes required of it. It goes on to say: “...the Parties to the Barcelona Convention included among their priority targets to be achieved by 1995 the protection of the Mediterranean monk seal (Genoa, 9-13 September 1985). The Mediterranean monk seal population has declined rapidly and drastically in the almost 20 years since then. Further international cooperation is needed to address the issue.”
During the 4-day meeting at Portoroz, experts and environment ministers from 21 Mediterranean countries officially adopted the monk seal declaration and supported a range of urgent actions to prevent the species’ extinction. Experience now suggests that nothing will happen.
RAC/SPA. 2005. Progress report of the activities of RAC/SPA. Seventh Meeting of National Focal Points for SPAs, Seville, 31 May - 3 June 2005. UNEP/MAP, UNEP(DEC)/MED WG.268/4: 1-37. [PDF 
449 KB]
RAC/SPA. 2005. Information report on the status of the monk seal in the Mediterranean. Seventh Meeting of National Focal Points for SPAs, Seville, 31 May - 3 June 2005. UNEP/MAP, UNEP(DEC)/MED WG.268/Inf.3: 1-45. [PDF 1019 KB]
RAC/SPA. 2005. Evaluation of the Mediterranean monk seal status. Meeting of MAP Focal Points, Athens (Greece), 21-24 September 2005. UNEP/MAP, UNEP(DEC)/MED WG.270/Inf.22: 1-7. [PDF 127 KB]
RAC/SPA. 2005. Declaration on the monk seal risk of extinction in the Mediterranean. Meeting of MAP Focal Points, Athens (Greece), 21-24 September 2005. UNEP/MAP, UNEP(DEC)/MED WG.270/17: 1-3. [PDF 77KB]
UNEP/MAP. 1987. Action plan for the management of the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus). United Nations Environment Programme, Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP). Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas, Tunis, Tunis & Athens. [PDF 18KB]
EndQuoteGlobal Warming Threat to Monk Seals “Of even more significance than the impacts of global warming on forestry will be the impacts on the world’s animal populations. A report that’s being presented to the UK Presidency of the European Union this week in Aviemore, Scotland by the UK Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs finds that: four out of five migratory birds listed by the UN face problems ranging from lower water tables to increased droughts, spreading deserts and shifting food supplies in their crucial “fueling stations” as they migrate; one-third of turtle nesting sites in the Caribbean – home to diminishing numbers of green, hawksbill and loggerhead turtles – would be swamped by a sea level rise of 50cm (20ins); shallow waters used by the endangered Mediterranean monk seal, dolphins, dugongs and manatees will slowly disappear; whales, salmon, cod, penguins and kittiwakes are being affected by shifts in distribution and abundance of krill and plankton, which has declined in places to a hundredth or thousandth of former numbers because of warmer sea-surface temperatures; and fewer chiffchaffs, blackbirds, robins and song thrushes are migrating from the UK due to warmer winters while egg-laying is also getting two to three weeks earlier than 30 years ago, showing a change in the birds’ biological clocks.”
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