Despite sporadic reports of individual observations in the last few decades, the emergence of the Mediterranean monk seal in the Adriatic has only been confirmed recently. First photographically documented observations were made on the 12 June 2005. […]
Since then, Blue World regularly monitors these types of observations in the northern Adriatic. Given that the Mediterranean monk seal uses a large area it has many places to rest. Occasional observations around Cape of Premantura Kamenjak in Istria and Losinj have been made, yet there are wide areas of the coast in this region with limited accessibility where the seal could rest in peace. On the 24.06.2011 Blue World researchers recorded the movement of an individual under water (video on www.plavi-svijet.org/hr/znanost/vrste/sredozemna_medvjedica/), and subsequent inspection of the terrain we found underwater caves which may be used by the animals to rest. Continue reading “New monk seal sighting on Cres, Croatia”
The last issue of TMG included a “photo quiz” promoted by the Italian Monk Seal Group – Gruppo Foca Monaca: the photo was one out of 41 shots taken by a tourist from a low cliff near the tower of Campese, on the north-western part of Giglio, and the marine mammal was at about 20 meters distance from the coast. The sighting lasted for more than half an hour, and other people were present. TMG staff comment was very clear: “As far as TMG is concerned… we think we see two seals (to judge from the stretched appearance and the subtle foreground shape…)”.
The quiz picturePhoto 1 and 2 (Courtesy Marco Prete)
I would like here to give my personal evaluations to the event. As GFM, we made an accurate evaluation of the photo (including all the others), and we reached the same conclusion: the presence, at the same moment and in the same place, of two animals, something that was not at all noticed by the photographer.
One of the two seals was sighted many times (approx. 10), from 11:58 up to 12:35. The photos were taken in this lapse of time with a professional Canon, using a 200 mm zoom, and with 3 shots/second setting.
The animal looked very disturbed, raising the head out of the water, a behaviour clearly visible in the photo no. 1, the first of seven shots, where the sixth (photo no. 2) shows how the seal was looking towards “something” just behind, and not towards the observers that were standing up on the cliff.
Photo 3 (Courtesy Marco Prete)
A second sequence of three shots (11:59) shows the second seal diving (photo no.3): it is possible to notice the difference from the first seal looking at the skin colour, much darker (typical of adult males). Have a look at the insets included in the same picture: the colour is much lighter.
Several shots, including the one featured in the “photo quiz”, show the lighter seal together with a part view of hind flippers, placed in a position impossible to be its own: the most likely explanation is that the other seal was just underneath, trying to catch her: a behaviour suggestive of courtship.
Photo 4 (Courtesy Marco Prete)
Finally, within the lapse of time between the first and the last picture, the lighter seal did not move away from the cliff, but – as it is shown in the last photo (photo no. 4) – she came closer, further confirming that she did not care very much about the people watching her from the rocks.
If I can add some further considerations to the description of the behaviour of such a still rather unknown species, (I guess somebody could define it as enriched by personal “insights”), I must admit that I was a bit frustrated by the fact that there were no other notes or comments to the “photo quiz”, apart from the one of TMG. This aspect can be assumed as a clear symbol of the lack of ideas or information exchange among the community dealing with monk seal study and conservation. I am personally convinced that monk seals can be saved only through a sincere and clear exchange of ideas and information among all those involved in their conservation. I unfortunately learned, on several occasions, that this does not happen at all, and this “behaviour” often involves those that work “professionally” on the issue. The reasons for such “scientific discretion” can vary and are sometimes understandable, but we should not forget that the monk seal is one of the rarest species on earth, and any information, even partial, is extremely important for the conservation community, to improve the protection.
TMG replies: After making comparisons with other photographs of adult female Mediterranean monk seals TMG had to reverse its opinion that “we think we see two seals” in the picture of the “photo quiz”. Comparing pictures, we thought it much more likely that it shows just one animal. Also now, after finally seeing all the pictures in the gallery, we see no convincing evidence to the contrary. — Matthias Schnellmann
GFM – Gruppo Foca Monaca Italia reports two recent, confirmed monk seal sightings along the Italian coasts.
The first one took place in July in the same area where in 2002 a young monk seal was observed for a considerable time and many photos taken, Metaponto, in southern Italy (Basilicata). Some tourists from Trento saw, not far from the shore, and for about an hour, a couple of adult seals with a “playing attitude” (probably courtship). Unfortunately they did not have any camera or mobile with camera, but — when interviewed — gave very detailed information about the sighting.
Croatian NGO Blue World has released footage of a Mediterranean monk seal filmed on 24 June around the island of Cres, in the Northern Adriatic (via the Italian OggiScienza TV magazine). Having studied the footage, Jasna Antolović of the Grupa Sredozemna Medvjedica has expressed the view that the seal might be a young female that her group has been monitoring since 2009 around the Kamenjak peninsula (Pula).
On 7 April, during a recent trip along Egypt’s Mediterranean coast to establish stakeholder contacts in implementing a National Action Plan for the Conservation of Cetaceans in that country, funded by the Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas (RAC/SPA) of Tunis, we were informed by the local community of Marsa Matrouh of a spate of monk seal sightings in the area. The news had generated considerable excitement, since the species has long been considered extinct in Egypt.
In a meeting at the offices of the Director of Environmental Affairs of the Marsa Matrouh Governorate, fishermen reported that seals had been observed several times during the previous 10 days. Mr. Abd El Malek in particular, a fisherman about 60 years old, was very clear. He had begun noticing that something was pulling fish out of his trammel nets, “in a very professional way”, i.e. without breaking the mesh. His boys had told him that they had seen a very strange animal around the nets, similar to those they had watched on TV, in the “yellow square” (National Geographic) eating penguins under the ice. At first he didn’t believe them: throughout his life, he’d never seen a seal in these waters; other fishermen said the same. After several attempts, however, they indeed caught a glimpse of a seal resting on one of the small sandy beaches along the local rocky coastline, and managed to take a few pictures and even a short video with their cell phones. Other fishermen agreed, asserting that they had frequently seen up to five seals during the same period, in a location about 5 km away from the first, and that their nets had been completely destroyed.
Jasna Antolović reports that Croation and Italian groups (Grupa Sredozemna Medvjedica; Gruppo Foca Monaca) continue their regular monitoring of the Kamenjak peninsula (Pula), where sightings over recent years suggest that the species is attempting to reestablish itself after a long absence.
On 24 March, GSM member Marko Jelic succeeded in taking a photograph of a monk seal resting on the beach of a cave in the area — apparently a first in the history of the conservation of the species in the Adriatic.
Despite sporadic reports of individual observations in the last few decades, the emergence of the Mediterranean monk seal in the Adriatic has only been confirmed recently. First photographically documented observations were made on the 12 June 2005. […]
