Category: Mauritania & Western Sahara

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Monk seal and hump-backed dolphin are threatened by fishing activities off coast of Mauritania

Media Watch, Plataforma SINC, Press Release, 21 January 2011
Monk seal approaching artisanal fishers in Mauritania (Photo: A. Aguilar)

Catalan researchers have studied the marine trophic network in Mauritania, on the north west coast of Africa, which is an extremely heavily exploited fishing area, as well as being home to two of the world’s most threatened species of marine mammal – the monk seal and the Atlantic hump-backed dolphin. The results of the study show that industrial and traditional fishing activities along the coast are putting these mammals and local marine ecosystems at great danger.

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LifeWeb partnership gives multi-million dollar boost to protected areas

United Nations Environment Programme, Press Release, 28 October 2010

Spain-UNEP LifeWeb Partnership to Raise Incomes and Improve Conservation in Protected Areas in Asia, Africa and Latin America

Nagoya, Japan,  28 October 2010. More than fifteen protected areas, including one managing monk seals off Mauritania and another in Sumatra that is home to orangutans, tigers and elephants, are to receive a US$6.8 million conservation boost.

Today, at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan, the government of Spain and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) announced a new partnership for protected areas under the LifeWeb initiative.

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Baby monk seal born in Mauritanian reserve

Press Watch, ANSA-Med, September 29, 2009

(ANSAmed) – MADRID – A baby monk-seal, one of the ten most endangered mammals in the world, was born last week in a natural reserve in Mauritania that is financed by the Spanish government. Monk-seals had not given birth on the shores of the eastern Atlantic for centuries. The baby seal, named Sofia in honour of the Queen of Spain, who visited the reserve two years ago, was spotted at the foot of a cliff by a patrol which protects monk-seals and works for Spanish foundation CBD-Habitat. Press agency EFE reported that sources within the Spanish ministry of the Environment made the announcement. It is since the 15th Century that the Mediterranean monk-seal did not reproduce on the beaches, islands and nooks of the Mauritanian coast because human hunters had forced them to retreat to deep caves, including underwater ones, along the coast.

Mauritania

Nouadhibou, Mauritania