Vol. 4 (1): May 2001

Croatia   /   Greece   /   Italy   /   Madeira   /   Mauritania & Western Sahara   /   Spain   /   Tunisia   /   Turkey



Turkey


Protected areas or death traps?

Rather than protecting and nurturing its vulnerable monk seal population, Turkey’s flagship protected area in Foça has instead been presiding over the death of an entire generation of animals – individuals whose survival might otherwise have spurred the recovery of the species.

According to findings published in this issue’s Cover Story, of 4 pups born in the Gulf of Izmir region (incorporating the Foça SPA and the adjacent Karaburun peninsula, also a prospective protection zone) since 1993, all have been entangled in nets and only one has survived. The revelation is likely to bring strong pressure to bear on the authorities to reform fisheries management practices in protected areas.


Circus time at Küdür

The Ministry of Culture appears to have repulsed a rearguard action by a German tourist conglomerate to rezone Bodrum’s Küdür peninsula, temporarily scuttling attempts to construct a sprawling ‘eco’ holiday village in the area [see Cover Story, TMG 2(2): November 1999 & Küdür under renewed threat, TMG 3(2): November 2000].

The Küdür peninsula is one of the last surviving habitats of Monachus monachus around Turkey’s heavily touristic Bodrum peninsula, and was declared a 1st degree natural SIT area by the Cultural and Natural Assets Protection Council (Izmir division) of the Ministry of Culture in November 1998.

Developers unhappy with that decision have since been attempting to have Küdür downgraded to 2nd degree status, thereby opening up the peninsula to coastal development. Leading the charge has been Öger Tours, a well-known tour operator based in Germany whose sister company in Turkey owns prime real estate along Küdür’s largely unspoilt coasts. In an effort to rescue some profits from its endangered Küdür holdings, Öger has been floating the idea of converting the entire peninsula into a “monk seal-oriented ecotourism region…” In September 2000, the company commissioned Professor Tuncay Neyisci, Director of the Environmental Issues Research and Application Centre of Akdeniz University in Antalya to conduct an environmental reassessment of Küdür, apparently seeking support for the view that monk seals and tourism can and must learn to coexist.

Despite his academic credentials, Prof. Neyisci’s recently-released 11-page report – which unhesitatingly embraces Öger’s dream of putting Küdür under eco-concrete – provides little tangible evidence for its conclusions, few relevant references, and no indication that the author has consulted the international monk seal scientific and conservation community. Local conservation views are also given short shrift, particularly SAD-AFAG’s submission that monk seals in the area cannot survive in a world of unremitting tourism disturbance and development pressures.

In his findings, Neyisci charges that Küdür’s first degree status was conferred improperly because the Ministry of Culture allegedly relied exclusively on SAD-AFAG surveys, reports and testimony, thereby failing to canvas a broader range of views as legally required. SAD-AFAG disputes that claim, noting that the monk seal protection zone originally established on Küdür in 1991 came as a result of a local initiative, subsequently accepted by the municipality of Yalikavak.

Relying on the persuasive powers of human self-interest to advance the Öger cause, Neyisci argues that it is folly to exclude leisure and fishing activities from the monk seal conservation process.

“Local fishermen who share the same limited [fish] stocks,” he writes, “the Mediterranean yachters, tourism investors, octopuses, seaweed, secondary house owners, tourists, monk seals, environmental groups, local governors and the other relevant stakeholders have to find ways of reconciliation and fair sharing while respecting each other.”

While most monk seal conservationists share the view that local community involvement is central to the creation and management of marine protected areas, Neyisci’s reasoning in applying this golden rule to Küdür is more than a little disingenuous. Among other essential design characteristics, monk seal MPAs should incorporate core zones where all human activity is prohibited, and buffer zones that allow some ecologically compatible human pursuits. The stark problem facing Küdür is that this little finger of land is already besieged by high-capacity tourism, in an area that attracts a million tourists per year. In other words, Küdür is already the MPA core zone and there is precious little in the way of intermediate zoning to buffer it from Bodrum’s relentless tourism onslaughts. It is, in fact, precisely in the issue of size that the industry’s bullyboy tactics become most apparent: Küdür’s coasts are just 15 km long compared to Bodrum’s 115 km.

Neyisci goes on to downplay the Mediterranean monk seal’s shy and retiring nature, and its well-known sensitivity to human disturbance. While acknowledging that habitat destruction and harassment is an important factor in the species’ decline, he argues that the solution is not to give seals reserves from which humans are chased away, but ecotourism parks where tourists, fishers, yachters and seals can all frolic together in peace and harmony.

Realising that most monk seal conservationists would consider such reasoning dubious at best, the bitter pill is sweetened by implied investments by Öger. In his report, Neyisci envisages an education centre, a monk seal rescue and rehabilitation unit, construction of artificial monk seal shelters and “sunbathing” areas. Having monk seals within arm’s reach would also facilitate various scientific procedures indispensable to the conservation of the species, claims Neyisci, such as population, feeding and genetic studies. Without these, he ponders, how will wildlife managers be able to pinpoint the precise threats to Monachus and design effective remedial measures?

Neyisci goes on to suggest that, if push comes to shove, the Mediterranean monk seal will soon lose its tiresome shyness and frolic about with the tourists. He bases his evidence on the anecdotal reports of a local man who, according to legend, established friendship with a monk seal by feeding it bread.

Experiences such as these, he writes, “together with the more extreme example of the seals used in circuses [sic], allow us to consider the possibility of establishing friendly relations between human and seal.”

All of which just goes to show that, where the tourism industry is concerned, it may not be Monachus that is most in need of a personality transplant.
– William M. Johnson.

Further reading:

Johnson, W.M. & D.M. Lavigne. 1999. Mass tourism and the Mediterranean monk seal. The role of mass tourism in the decline and possible future extinction of Europe’s most endangered marine mammal, Monachus monachus. Monachus Science. The Monachus Guardian 2(2): November 1999.
Kiraç, C.O. 1988. Oil spill at Çavus Island. The Monachus Guardian 1(1): May 1998.
Kiraç, C.O. 1999. New monk seal protection areas face uncertain future. The Monachus Guardian 2(1): May 1999.
Kiraç, C.O. & D.S. Polatkan. 1999. Küdür peninsula declared protected area. The Monachus Guardian 2(1) May 1999.
Moran, G. 1997. The Potential of ecotourism on the Bodrum peninsula, Turkey. The Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), University of Kent at Canterbury. Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Science in conservation biology, March 1997.
Savas, Y. 1999. How tourism has ruined the coastal habitats of the monk seal on the Bodrum peninsula, Turkey. The Monachus Guardian 2(2): November 1999.


Video monitoring on Karaburun

Phase 3 of SAD-AFAG’s Project Seal Watch set its sights on a key monk seal breeding cave near Mordogan in the Gulf of Izmir, Turkey, from October 2000 to February 2001. The Project involves the use of remote-controlled video cameras, allowing researchers to monitor monk seal in-cave activity without disturbance.


Monitoring seals at Bozyazi

The first phase of the project was implemented in Foça in 1997 in collaboration with the Italian NGO Gruppo Foca Monaca and lasted for about a month. In its second phase, SAD-AFAG installed a video system with a broadcast link in Bozyazi in the Cilician Basin [see Monk seal behaviour under surveillance, TMG 3(1): May 2000]. This system, funded by WWF Belgium, continues to transmit images from the cave.

During the last pupping season on Karaburun, it was decided to mount cameras in the most important seal breeding cave at Mordogan in the Gulf of Izmir. Using the system, two mature females, a juvenile and a seal pup could be monitored intermittently for a period of about three months. Unfortunately, the pup born in the Mordogan cave was killed in fishing nets when three months old [see Cover Story, this issue].

The cave, although situated on government land, is surrounded by secondary summer houses that are deserted through the fall and winter months when the monk seals give birth and the pups are cave-dependent. In contrast, during the summertime the area becomes a hot spot for people living in their holiday houses. Young people swarm around the cave and the nearby café-disco.

Now, a monitoring project, with a planned duration of one and a half years, has been proposed to the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK). If approved, a state-of-the-art infrared-sensitive TV surveillance system will be installed and seal activities in and around the cave will be monitored over a period of two summers and a winter. During the second summer, as a result of an agreement reached with the Mayor of Mordogan, all human activities will be prohibited around the cave.
– Yalçin Savas, SAD-AFAG.


Film festival for Foça

The Aegean town of Foça, a pioneer in marine conservation in Turkey, will host a documentary film festival focusing on fishermen, the sea and marine conservation, 29 August – 2 September 2001.

The “Fishermen and Sea Documentaries Festival”, as it is known, is expected to attract film producers, fishermen, fisheries scientists and marine conservation charities both from home and abroad.

One of the principal aims of the gathering is to provide local artisanal fishermen with a national platform from which to air their views and grievances, thus obliging government to regard them as essential stakeholders in the quest for sustainable fisheries and the conservation of coastal ecosystems.

Festival organisers include SAD (Underwater Research Society), BSB (Union of Documentary Cinematographers) and Foça Agenda 21. The Foça Fishing Cooperative, the Municipality of Foça and the Local Governorship are supporting the event.

The Festival programme will feature documentaries on fishing and the life of fishermen from various countries. Filmmakers are also due to take part in panel discussions, examining the cultural, social and environmental influences of this ancient human pursuit. Above all, during the last two days of the Festival fishermen, scientists and NGOs will discuss the concept of sustainable fishing and the instruments available in Turkey to achieve it.

There are also likely to be lighter moments, with fishermen taking part in competitions in net-mending or hooking long lines.

If you have any interest in attending or participating in the Festival, please contact: SAD-AFAG – Aegean Programme Office, Foça.
– Yalçin Savas, SAD-AFAG.


Liberated scuba divers may endanger monk seals

In 1989, scuba diving was prohibited by government decree along extensive stretches of Turkish Aegean and Mediterranean coastline in an effort to protect archaeological treasures. By happy coincidence, monk seal habitat could also be found along many of these rugged shores. The restrictions on diving therefore helped to limit serious intrusions into monk seal caves.

In recent years, however, an ever-increasing demand for recreational and touristic scuba diving in Turkey has resulted in diving clubs and dive centres exerting sustained pressure on government to reform the decree and weaken its powers.

In the first signs that it may be buckling under such pressure, the Ministry of Culture recently organized a series of workshops for concerned parties, hosted by Bodrum Underwater Museum, long recognised as the centre of submarine archaeology in Turkey. As anticipated, the meetings decided to shrink banned dive areas in zones deemed archaeologically secure and well-surveyed. Realising the potential impact of the decision upon the monk seal, the Underwater Research Society (SAD), has proposed that several known caves used by the species be incorporated into areas that will continue to be off-limits to divers.

Pressure on monk seal habitat by dive-tourism still poses a serious problem for the survival of the species in some coastal areas in Turkey, such as Çesme, Bodrum and Alanya.
– Yalçin Savas, SAD-AFAG.


Coastal seine fishery banned



Trata fishing in Bodrum

From 1 April 2001, the use of every type of coastal seine gear in fishing (trata, manyat, tarlakoz, igrip) was prohibited along Turkish coasts, the only exceptions being a limited area in the north Aegean and shrimp seines in the Sea of Marmara.

Coastal seines, often deployed over Posidonia sea grass beds, have inflicted great damage upon fish stocks and coastal ecosystems, exacerbating the overfishing crisis in Turkey. They were first banned in 1993 in Foça, the Pilot Area for conservation of the monk seal in Turkey. Since then, SAD-AFAG, in cooperation with fishing cooperatives and fisheries scientists, has waged a sustained campaign to have the same regulation applied along all Turkish coasts.

Artisanal fishermen in Turkey, who have signalled their approval of the government action, are likely to gain significantly in the long-term as fishing grounds begin to recover. It is hoped that monk seals – whose decline in the eastern Mediterranean has sometimes been partially attributed to lack of food – will also benefit.

There are fears, however, that some coastal seiners may switch to illegal trawling methods in an effort to dodge the new restrictions. The authorities have therefore been warned that the new law must be strictly enforced if it is to be effective.
– Yalçin Savas, SAD-AFAG.


Conservation grant for the Cilician Basin

SAD-AFAG has been awarded a grant by United Nations Development Program – Global Environmental Fund (UNDP–GEF) for monitoring marine conservation areas in the Cilician Basin. In recognition of its objectives and achievements in the region, the UNDP-GEF jury voted to increase the allocated award from $25,000 to $35,000.

The project, which commenced in December 2000, is being implemented in the vicinity of Bozyazi, where a no-fishing zone has been established by the AFAG Mediterranean Programme team, supervised by Dr. Ali Cemal Gücü.

The Cilician Basin lies in the northeastern reaches of the Mediterranean, between Cyprus and the Turkish mainland. Along the most unspoilt coasts, monk seals continue to inhabit some of the last surviving breeding caves in the region. The Cilician coasts are also an important breeding area for two species of endangered sea turtle (Caretta caretta and Chelonia mydas), and many other rare and threatened marine species.

An examination of fisheries in the region reveals a long, profitable history, since fish – including uncommon species that are particularly appreciated for their flavour – sustain high market prices due to demand. Even so, the eastern Mediterranean is considered relatively ‘unproductive’ in terms of fish because of its geography, climate and current systems. As such, fish stocks can only sustain a small-scale artisanal fishery. However, human greed has led to industrial-scale boats fishing within this sensitive ecosystem, equipped with huge, indiscriminate trawl nets and purse seines. Within the last fifteen years, the area has been heavily exploited by industrial fishing.

Recently, monk seal conservation efforts in the region have succeeded in establishing five protected coastal sites – incorporating key habitat of the species – as well as a no-trawling area, and a smaller no-fishing zone. The aim of the new UNDP-GEF programme is now to determine the effectiveness of protection measures by monitoring the ecosystem and its constituent parts.

SAD-AFAG hopes to be able to demonstrate to decision makers, as well as to fishermen and other local stakeholders, the importance of “No-Take” areas as a fisheries management tool.
– SAD-AFAG Mediterranean Programme.


No-Fish-More-Fish


No-Fishing Zone at Kizilliman, Bozyazi, Cilician Basin

Results gathered by the “No-Fish-More-Fish project” in the Cilician Basin – a collaborative effort between SAD-AFAG and METU-IMS (Middle East Technical University - Institute of Marine Sciences) with WWF funding, is now being monitored by another project entitled “Monitoring the Repair Rate of a Worn-out Ecosystem Which is Under Protection”.

The fish stocks of the Cilician Basin have always been meagre compared to other basins where the continental shelf is wide and the rivers nourish the ecosystem with nutrients. However, socio-economic deprivation facing the local community led many people to take up fishing. Surveys have indicated an abrupt decline in the size of the fish stocks, as well as in species diversity.

The new study marks the first step in a research programme aimed at monitoring the recovery rate of a deteriorated ecosystem in the absence of a large-scale fishery.

The research effort focuses on a small, Ministry of Agriculture-designated no-trawl and no-purse seine zone established between Sancak Cape (Aydincik) and Kizilliman Cape (Bozyazi) on 1 April 1999. To determine the possible effects of the zone, catch surveys conducted in 1983-1984 are being compared with 3 surveys conducted in May 1999, November 1999 and May 2000 respectively, using the same trawling method and mesh size to obtain fish samples.

The study is expected to reveal significant benefits in establishing no-fishing zones for the improvement of regional fisheries.

In an indication of the severity of overfishing afflicting the region, survey results show that catches of two commercially valuable fish species, red mullet (Mullus barbatus) and common pandora (Pagellus erythrinus) declined ten fold in the years 1984-1999.

During the last visit to the site, however, just one year after no-trawl and no-fishing restrictions were applied, it was discovered that fish stocks had increased by 80% more than the same period a year earlier, including economically valuable species. Red mullet, for example, formed 45% of the total catch. For further information: Dr. Ali Cemal Gücü, METU-IMS.
– SAD-AFAG Mediterranean Programme.


Commuting monk seals



Mother seal “Emine” at Hayirsiz Island, Foça, 1998

AFAG researchers have recently gathered additional evidence to support the long-held contention that monk seals inhabiting the Gulf of Izmir commute freely between Foça and the Karaburun Peninsula, two of the 12 most Important Monk Seal Sites in Turkey identified by AFAG.

During regularly scheduled observations from lookout points on Karaburun, three distinct sightings were made in March and April 2001 of an adult female monk seal known to researchers as “Emine”, an individual also regularly observed around Hayirsiz and Orak Islands, Foça. The Foça Specially Protected Area is only about nine nautical miles from the Karaburun Peninsula.

Aside from Ermine, a grey-yellowish adult female and a dark grey juvenile, both observed around Karaburun town in April 2001, were also sighted during the same time period in Foça by artisanal fishermen. The sightings appear to underscore the importance of establishing effective networks of protected areas.
– Ozan Veryeri, SAD-AFAG Aegean Programme.


Collectors’ items


As part of its public awareness efforts both in Turkey and abroad, AFAG has designed and printed a new postcard that recalls the monk seal’s historical and cultural significance. The modern day town of Foça, which takes its name from the seal, can trace its ancestry back to the powerful ancient city of Phocaea which once minted its own seal-emblem coins. – SAD-AFAG Ankara Co-ordination Office.



      

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