Category: Mediterranean News

Posted on

Sketchy details provided of new EU life project for Giaros

WWF Greece, MOm and its Greek and international partners announced the launch of a new protected area management project centred around the uninhabited island of Giaros in the Cyclades islands this week. Although long on PR and short on detail, the press release is keen to stress the perceived benefits of the MPA to neighbouring island development (Syros and Andros in particular), in tourism and fisheries management, by taking a “holistic” approach to conservation and economic opportunity. Giaros, a former military zone and prison island, has since become a Natura 2000 protected area, and is an important Mediterranean monk seal colony. The project, “Cyclades LIFE”, is funded by the European Commission’s LIFE funding mechanism, and by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.

The island of Giaros, as seen from Syros.
The island of Giaros, as seen from Syros.

Further information

WWF Greece. Cyclades LIFE: A ground-breaking initiative for sustainable growth and the conservation of nature in the Cyclades. Press Release, 15 July 2013.

Konstantinos Mentzelopoulos. Our Sea, Our Life. The Monachus Guardian 12 (1): June 2009.

Posted on

Park expresses disgust over shooting

In a press release posted on its Facebook page, the Management Body of the National Marine Park of Alonnisos Northern Sporades (NMPANS), has expressed its disgust and regret over an incident which saw a Coast Guard officer spray automatic gunfire at semi-wild goats at Planitis in the internationally-recognised monk seal protected area. The President of the Management Body has stated that the Park will now determine what course of action to take against those responsible for the incident.

The NMPANS is regarded as one of the most important monk seal breeding habitats in the Mediterranean.

Originally posted on YouTube — apparently by the perpetrators themselves — video of the shooting spree provoked widespread condemnation. Although the video has since been removed by the user from YouTube, it is still available on other channels.

Conservationists are now left to wonder whether this was a “one-off” incident — or whether other offences may have been committed, possibly within the Core Zone of the Park. As TMG has reported on many previous occasions, with chronic funding shortages facing the NMPANS Management Body, effective guarding and monitoring remains essentially non-existent. Annual monk seal pup counts have not been taken for years, rendering any reliable assessment of the population or conservation measures, impossible.

Video: katsikopolemos 2

Posted on

29 pups counted so far

In their just-published September-October Newsletter, Greek NGO MOm reports the births of 29 monk seal pups to date this breeding season: 11 in the Cyclades, 8 on the island of Evia and 5 each in the Ionian and the Dodecanese. The pup counts form part of population monitoring in specific areas of Greece, in an attempt to gather information on overall trends. No pup count information has been released from the National Marine Park of Alonnisos, Northern Sporades, where no population monitoring appears to have been conducted for several years — apparently the victim of funding cut-backs.

Posted on

Automatic cameras record monk seals in the Desertas Islands

Rosa Pires, Parque Natural da Madeira
Pup with the females – “Female Y” and “Riscagrande” on Tabaqueiro beach. (Click to Enlarge)

Over recent years, camera monitoring systems have been installed on several occasions in Madeira’s Desertas Islands, yet failed to achieve the desired results.

This year, however, we obtained the first images of monk seals on site using a simple system, comprising an automatic camera.

On 26 October 2012, the system captured the first pup of the reproductive season — barely one day old.

The calf, a female, is healthy and being cared for by two females who share the role of mother. It is thought possible that one of them may have previously lost her own calf.

Pup with the “Female Y”, 20 days later. (Click to Enlarge)

It is hoped that the initiative, undertaken through the BES Biodiversity award, with the technical assistance of Spanish organization CBD-Habitat, will allow more effective monitoring of monk seals both on beaches and in caves. The system is also expected to prove its value during the current stormy season, which often prevents or inhibits firsthand observation.

By January or February 2013, we hope to have results from the camera system installed inside ‘Tabaqueiro’ — a maternity cave.

Posted on

Monk seal fisheries interactions

Recent Publications

González, Luis Mariano and de Larrinoa, Pablo Fernández. 2012. Mediterranean monk seal Monachus monachus distribution and fisheries interactions in the Atlantic Sahara during the second half of the 20th century: 1-9. DOI: 10.1515/mammalia-2012-0046, October 2012. [Online purchase €30 / $42]

Abstract

The most important surviving colony of the critically endangered Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) inhabits the Atlantic Saharan coast. The population has not recovered despite the cessation of commercial sealing in the second half of the 20th century. We report the distribution of the monk seals within the region from 1940 to 1989 and their interactions with fisheries, from data gathered through interviews of fishermen. Our study shows a notable decrease in the seals’ range during the study period. Observations of seals on open beaches and exposed rocks decreased, while observations in caves increased. Important negative interactions between monk seals and fisheries were detected, with the most frequent interactions being bycatch in gillnets and bottom trawl nets. Reports obtained from fishermen clearly indicate that the seals were still being deliberately killed on land during the 20th century, which likely caused the extirpation of seal populations hauling out on beaches. We recommend that mortality due to fishery bycatch be added as a contributing factor to the decline of the monk seal populations in the region from 1940 to 1989. We also recommend conservation measures such as the establishment of a permanent marine reserve along the Atlantic Coast of the Cap Blanc Peninsula.

Keywords: Atlantic Sahara; distribution; endangered species; Mediterranean monk seal; seal-fishery interactions.

Posted on

Naxos pup dies in rehab

Naxos pupIn a brief announcement on its Facebook page, Greek NGO MOm today announced that the orphaned monk seal pup rescued from Naxos on 19 September had died in its rehabilitation unit on Alonnisos.

The statement reads in part: “[The pup] had unstable temperature and sugar levels and died in the afternoon of Friday, October 5th. Pending the results of the necropsy that took place yesterday at the Pathological Laboratory [sic] of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the responsible veterinarian Dr. Anastasia Komninou, it was found that there was a generalised inflammation of the intestine, pneumonia and severe parasitic load. We expect more detailed information from the results of the virological, bacteriological and histological tests.”

There is no indication whether — or to what extent — the pup’s initial ordeal on Naxos, the lengthy evacuation off-island, or the substandard condition of the rehabilitation unit on Alonnisos, might have contributed to its ultimate demise [See Stranded monk seal rescued on Naxos — but was it harassed with good intentions first?].