Tag: management

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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

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Madeira monk seal book available online

Recent Publications

Book cover: Lobos-Marinhos do Arquipélago da Madeira. Monk Seals of the Archipelago of Madeira.

Courtesy of the Parque Natural da Madeira Service, TMG is happy to make available the PDF version of Rosa Pires’ new illustrated book, Monk Seals of the Archipelago of Madeira (bilingual, English and Portuguese).

The book features sections on the biology and conservation of the species, and with monk seals recovering sufficiently to recolonise the main island of Madeira, steps members of the public can take to record and report their sightings.

Rosa Pires, a field biologist for the Parque Natural da Madeira Service, has been instrumental in the monk seal’s recovery in the Madeira archipelago.

Pires, R. 2011. Lobos-Marinhos do Arquipélago da Madeira. Monk Seals of the Archipelago of Madeira. Servicço do Parque Natural da Madeira, Funchal: 1-60. [PDF 7.7 MB]

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Notes from the Field

The Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program is posting some fascinating updates and observations on its Facebook page from its latest tour of duty among the far-flung atolls of the North Western Hawaiian Islands. Here is the latest:

Notes from the Field: Update from Laysan Island Monk Seal Team

We have hit the field running on Laysan. For a reunited, returning crew, it has been relatively easy to do just that. With the field camp up and running by the end of offload day, we were able to start surveys our second day on island.

Within the first week, we were able to tag all 21 weaned pups. Tags are placed on the hind flippers to give each seal a unique set of tags used to identify that seal throughout its life. Once these pups were tagged, it was onto the next set of priorities. Continue reading “Notes from the Field”

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Workshop report from Martinique

Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara, Tethys Research Institute, Milano
Photo: Georges Gavanas

A workshop on monk seal conservation issues was organised within the framework of the second International Conference on Marine Mammal Protected Areas, held in Martinique from 7-11 November 2011.  Nine experts on both extant monk seal species, from eight countries, contributed to the workshop, which I had the honour of coordinating.

The purpose of this workshop was to gather updated information on the status of both the Hawaiian and Mediterranean monk seals within their respective ranges, but in particular to explore ways in which marine protected areas (MPAs) can be used to protect these critically endangered mammals. The conditions under which monk seals survive vary greatly not only between Hawaii and the Mediterranean/North Atlantic, but also in the different localities within each species’ range. Accordingly, the tools to address the different pressures affecting monk seal status include, but are not limited to, the establishment of protected areas, and the application of these tools varies greatly between programmes.

Continue reading “Workshop report from Martinique”

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Cute with consequences

Media Watch, Cute with Consequences, Honolulu Weekly, 28 September 2011

On the brink of extinction, monk seals are seen as a threat by Isle fishers

[…] Since the early 1990s, when sightings of the rare creatures became a regular appearance throughout the inhabited Hawaiian Islands, tourists have flocked to take their pictures. Monk seal images now adorn magazines, postcards, T-shirts and caps. Diligent volunteers erect barrier ropes around sun-bathing seals, track their movements and guard their pups.

Still, not everyone has warm, fuzzy feelings toward the state’s official mammal. In meetings held recently around the state, commercial, recreational and subsistence fishers and other ocean users made it clear they’re running short of aloha for the rapidly dwindling species, primarily because they’re worried about how federal plans to save it may impact them.

“When people get upset over here, they’re gonna kill ‘em, and that’s a fact, bottom line,” testified Kauai resident Kalani Kapuniai at a Sept. 17 hearing on a draft programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) that calls for temporarily moving young seals from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) to undisclosed sites in the main Islands. Two monk seals were shot on Kauai in 2009, “and we were told that there were others that were never reported,” said Carl Berg, a member of Surfrider Foundation’s Kauai chapter. [Continues]

Source: Cute with Consequences, Joan Conrow, Honolulu Weekly, Cover Story, 28 September 2011

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Recovering a species

Media Watch, The Molokai Dispatch, 19th September 2011

Actions proposed to assist monk seal survival

[…] In a hearing about the PEIS held on Molokai last Thursday, community members and fishermen offered their opinion on the proposals. Many expressed concerns about the large amount of fish Hawaiian monk seals eat – fish that they say could be going to feed their families. […]

More than 50 residents attended the hearing, and many testified before NMFS representatives and monk seal researchers. Many offered first-hand experience in encountering seals while fishing. Others were frustrated with the lack of local and cultural representation within the NMFS and in the PEIS document. […]

One of the [alternative] proposals considered by NMFS officials was the development of a facility in the NWHI for the seals, protected from the dangers that threaten their survival. [NOAA Hawaiian monk seal recovery coordinator Jeff] Walters said this proposal was dismissed because of prohibitive costs and logistical challenges. [Resident and Molokai Planning Commissioner Lori] Buchanan said she thinks that alternative should still be considered, as no mention was made of what it would actually cost to carry out this option. [Continues]

Source: Recovering a species, Catherine Cluett, The Molokai Dispatch, 19th September 2011