Monk seal killed by dynamite blast in the Aegean

Anastasia Miliou

Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation

On 15 April 2010, team members of Archipelagos, Institute for Marine Conservation, were called out to a Monachus monachus stranding in the village of Perri, on the south coast of Samos. On arrival the seal, a young male measuring 1.7m, was pronounced dead and the body was moved to an area where an on-site necropsy could be carried out by both Archipelagos staff and the local vet. Samples were taken by Archipelagos for further analysis (fatty tissue, kidney, liver, heart, lungs and stomach contents).

The initial thought was that a boat strike, inducing trauma, had been the cause of death. However with no visible external injuries and a closer inspection of the organs, it became apparent that the seal had died from internal haemorrhaging consistent with injuries caused by a dynamite blast; this was later found to have occurred in the nearby area.

Dynamite fishing, though illegal, is unfortunately still an ongoing problem in Greek seas. Archipelagos has been working at the EU, national and local levels to combat illegal and destructive fishing practices, which are destroying fish stocks, marine ecosystems and wildlife. With that aim in mind, Archipelagos implements an ongoing fisheries research programme in different areas of the Greek seas, recording among others illegal fishing practices and collecting related evidence and data.

Unfortunately this incident was not the only monk seal death this year. Since the beginning of 2010, the deaths of 12 seals have been recorded in the Aegean, (11 in Greece and 1 in Turkey) the majority deliberately killed [Editor’s note: numbers have increased since this article was written. See Alarming numbers of dead seals, this issue]. However, it is impossible to estimate the actual number of deaths, since many of the strandings are never observed or reported. We therefore have to question whether conservation work for the monk seals carried out in the Greek seas can be considered effective in actually protecting this endangered species. Our view is that it has not succeeded in decreasing hostility or solving the problem between monk seals and fishermen. In fact, it seems that we have entered the process of a countdown towards the extinction of Monachus monachus.

Clearly, different approaches are urgently needed if the aim is to achieve actual protection of this critically endangered flagship species. It may be time to decide whether the survival of the largest remaining monk seal population in the Mediterranean, located in the Greek seas, should solely remain a national (Greek) matter or if it is time for the international community to take serious action before it is too late, by monitoring the implementation and effectiveness of the recommendations of regional and international Action Plans, workshops, meetings and Strategies that have been developed to protect this species.

Copyright © 2010 Anastasia Miliou, The Monachus Guardian. All Rights Reserved