Vol. 8 (2): December 2005

Italy

Summer sightings at Orosei

On 26 August 2005 two monk seals were observed off the coast of Capo Monte Santo in the Gulf of Orosei, Sardinia. The observer was a police helicopter pilot, who was flying approximately 100 meters above sea level and 300 meters from the coast. – Emanuele Coppola, Gruppo Foca Monaca.

Madeira

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Call for Sightings

Madeira’s monk seal monitoring programme remains on course at the Desertas Islands. Although we have not detected any newborn pup so far this season, we are expecting the birth of at least two pups.

On Madeira Island we have developed a public awareness campaign that includes talks at schools and public recreation centres to advise people how to behave in the presence of a monk seal. As indicated in previous issues of TMG, there have been increasing instances of human-seal interactions on Madeira. A poster has been produced to coincide with the campaign, requesting members of the public to volunteer sightings information. – Rosa Pires, Parque Natural da Madeira.

New Ranger’s Station opens on the Desertas

The Desertas Islands’ new ranger’s station was officially inaugurated on 18 June by the Regional Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources. The inauguration featured a regatta and a windsurfing race from Funchal to the Desertas, widely publicised in the Madeiran media.

The Regional Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources with PNM rangers on the Desertas Islands.		The new ranger’s station on Deserta Grande.

The new station is divided into three areas: a residence for Park staff, accommodation for visiting researchers, and a small exhibition area focusing on the Reserve. – Rosa Pires, Parque Natural da Madeira.

Mauritania & Western Sahara

New encampment in the “Coast of the Seals” Reserve

	The new encampment at the Coast of Seals.

A new encampment has been built over the cliffs of the Coast of the Seals in order to replace the old one, already very damaged by time, sand and wind. The new facilities provide more comfortable conditions for the surveillance team and scientists that work daily there for the conservation of the Cabo Blanco monk seal colony.

The encampment will also be equipped soon with solar and wind power systems in order to provide stable and reliable electric current to the cameras and TV systems that monitor the interior of the Cabo Blanco breeding caves. – Hamadi  M’Barek. CBD-Habitat.

Pupping season on the “Coast of the Seals”

This 2005 breeding season in Cabo Blanco, births have begun sooner than ever previously observed. Six births have been detected in the month of August, and during September, peak of this breeding season, 12 births have been registered. To date, with the breeding season not ended yet, 29 pups have been born in the two main breeding caves of the Cabo Blanco peninsula. Fortunately, and as already happened in the 2004 breeding season, such “earlier births” mean that pups are older when the storms and high swell season arrives around the end of October, resulting in a lower pup mortality rate. In the last two years the rate has been around 30% in contrast to previous years, when it ranged around 40-50%. – Michel Cedenilla and Mulaye Haye. CBD-Habitat.

Coastal expedition in the “Song of the Whale”

	A coastal reconnaissance is mounted by Zodiac from IFAW’s Song of the Whale.

In May 2005, within the framework of the International Monk Seal Recovery Plan in the Eastern Atlantic, developed by Morocco, Mauritania, Portugal and Spain (Convention on Migratory Species, UNEP/CMS), the coastline between Cabo Corbeiro and Castillete de la Mesa was surveyed. Due to its inaccessibility, this area had yet to be adequately explored. The survey was performed jointly by technicians of CBD-Habitat, the Institute National de Recherché Halieutique du Maroc (INRH), the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), the local NGO Nature Initiative and the Haut commissariat des Eaux et Forêt du Maroc, onboard IFAW’s sailboat The Song of the Whale. Several terrestrial expeditions to the areas were performed previously to determine the nature of the coast. The objective of the marine survey was to determine the possible presence of other monk seal colonies or to locate habitat used by seals from the Cabo Blanco population. Although no monk seals were observed between Cap Corbeiro and Castillete de la Mesa, several recent sightings by fishermen were recorded, suggesting that the area is used by seals. While we could not determine the degree of occupation or use of the coast, we were able to identify areas and caves that could potentially be used by seals. We also identified human threats, mostly related to illegal fishing and the collection of molluscs and crustaceans, as well as a trend towards generally increasing human pressure. A more regular monitoring of this coastline is being planned under the framework of the Monk Seal Action Plan in the Atlantic. – Pablo Fernández de Larrinoa, CBD-Habitat.

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