The prize ceremony took place on May 7 in Lisbon, and was attended by the Portuguese Minister for Agriculture, Forestry, Sea and Land Management, Assunção Cristas. Photo: Pablo Larrinoa.
The project “Monk Seal — a recovering species in Madeira” of the Parque Natural da Madeira Service was the project winner of the 2012 BES Biodiversity award.
The award is an initiative of the Portuguese bank Espírito Santo in partnership with the Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources (CIBIO) of Porto University and the Institute for Nature Conservation and Biodiversity (ICNB).
Awarded annually, BES Biodiversity is currently the largest Portuguese award for research and business activity in environmental conservation and aims to recognize innovative research projects, conservation and biodiversity management in Portugal.
According to the BES press release, the fifth edition of this award was devoted to the theme “Biodiversity: Research and Conservation” and sought to distinguish conservation research projects with a strong practical component and results. The prize was awarded in recognition of the unique work in preservation and recovery of the endangered Mediterranean monk seal.
With the project prize, 75.000 Euros, the Parque Natural da Madeira Service intends to maintain the solid and continuous work that has been done in Madeira through the involvement of Madeira citizens in the monk seals’ protection, through the surveillance of their habitat and through improvement of the monitoring system by using automatic cameras. This task will link the Parque Natural da Madeira Service and the CBD-Habitat Foundation of Spain, which is already using this system to monitor monk seals in the Western Sahara.
On Saturday April the 7th, young “Fokionas”, the Mediterranean monk seal found at Syros on the 16th of February, returned back to his natural environment. After almost two months in the Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre of MOm in Alonnisos, a healthy and strong “Fokionas” was released in to the National Park of Alonnisos Northern Sporades.
When found at the age of three months, “Fokionas” was weak, very dehydrated, in a bad dietary condition and weighed merely 23 kg. His transport to the Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre of MOm in Alonnisos was deemed necessary in order to ensure his survival.
Under the supervision of the experts of MOm and the veterinarian in charge, “Fokionas” followed a specialized and intensive rehabilitation program that aimed in treating an infection and the parasites that had befallen him. Already from the first days of the treatment “Fokionas” responded positively and ate whole fishes, as he had stayed long enough with his mother to learn the basic feeding and hunting skills.
Upon release, “Fokionas” had reached a body weight of 58 kilos, while all veterinary examinations indicated that he is in an excellent health condition. It should be noted that “Fokionas” was one of the strongest and wildest pups to enter rehab at the Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre of MOm.
Ibrahem Benamer, Natural Resources and Environmental Science,
Omar Mukhtar University (OMU), El-beida, Libya
On the 25 March in the area of Ain Gazzalla (Northeast Libya near the Egyptian border, 32.23284 N, 23.2848 E) a group of fishermen found a dead female monk seal trapped in their net. The case was reported to the coastguard who in turn informed the National Marine Laboratory. The carcass is now in their possession at the Lab and an autopsy is being arranged during this week.
This event is the only confirmed case of monk seal existence in eastern Libya since Norris 1972 [Norris, W.J.T. 1972. Monk Seals in Libya. Oryx 11: 328-330.], which may indicate that this critically endangered species can still be found in the area or close by, which will support the importance of the area as an MPA.
A report will be issued after the autopsy; meanwhile, pictures taken by the fishermen can be found on Flickr.
In a brief announcement on its Facebook page, Greek NGO MOm has announced that monk seal pup ‘Fokion’, currently in rehab on Alonnisos, now weighs more than 40 kilos, eats 5 kilos of fish 3 times per day, and is almost ready for release. Fokion was rescued in February on the island of Syros.
According to Turkish press reports, the veterinarian charged with beating orphaned monk seal Badem during an ill-conceived ‘aversion therapy’ programme, has received a court sanctioned fine of 848 TL. (approximately $470). It remains unclear whether the Foça town abattoir vet, Avni Gök, will be banned from future monk seal rehabilitations.
In response to questions from TMG, Turkish monk seal NGO SAD-AFAG, responsible for Badem’s rescue and on-again, off-again rehabilitation, insisted that it had neither approved nor was aware of the veterinarian’s training regime, video footage of which sparked widespread public anger. While condemning the actions of Gök, AFAG’s Cem Orkun Kirac suggested that the footage had been leaked by local opponents of AFAG rehabilitation projects, and that the veterinarian’s methods had not been inspired by cruelty or malice.
TMG’s opinion is that the training regime applied was at best driven out of ignorance and at worst represents a clear case of inexcusable animal cruelty. While Hawaiian monk seal researchers occasionally employ “aversive conditioning” to drive monk seals away from situations in which they or members of the public are deemed at risk, (1) these are applied within the specific situation in which such action is required, not in an enclosed pool where no such risk exists, and (2) utilise actions such as noise, lights or “waving a palm frond” at the animal — presumably not quite in the same league as beating it with a stick.
We understand that AFAG intends to issue an English language press release on the issue within a matter of days.
Jenkinson, E. M. 2010. Aversive conditioning and monk seal – human interactions in the main Hawaiian Islands: Aversive Conditioning Workshop, Honolulu, Hawaii, November 10-11, 2009. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA Tech. Memo., NOAA-TM-NMFS-PIFSC-25, 28 p. + Appendices. [PDF 268 KB]
Murphy S, Spradlin TR, Mackey B, McVee J and others. 2012. Age estimation, growth and age-related mortality of Mediterranean monk seals Monachus monachus. Endang Species Res 16:149-163. [PDF 1.4]
ABSTRACT: Mediterranean monk seals Monachus monachus are classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, with <600 individuals split into 3 isolated sub-populations, the largest in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Canine teeth collected during the last 2 decades from 45 dead monk seals inhabiting Greek waters were processed for age estimation. Ages were best estimated by counting growth layer groups (GLGs) in the cementum adjacent to the root tip using unprocessed longitudinal or transverse sections (360 µm thickness) observed under polarized light. Decalcified and stained thin sections (8 to 23 µm) of both cementum and dentine were inferior to unprocessed sections. From analysing patterns of deposition in the cementum of known age-maturity class individuals, one GLG was found to be deposited annually in M. monachus. Ages ranged from 0.5 to 36 yr for females, 0.5 to 21 yr for males and 0.5 to 25.5 yr for individuals of unknown sex. The majority of seals (65%) were considered adults (≥4 yr), followed by juveniles (20%, <1 yr) and sub-adults (15%, 1−3.9 yr). Thirty percent of the aged sample had died from human-related causes, such as accidental entanglement in fishing gear and direct killings. A single-Gompertz growth curve was generated for both sexes using standard length data, resulting in asymptotic values of 212.3 cm for females and 221.8 cm for males. This study represents the first quantitative glimpse of sex-specific growth in monk seals and the age structure of dead individuals in this rare species’ core range.
A 3-month old male pup, ‘weak, in poor nutritional condition and very dehydrated’ has been rescued on the island of Syros, according to Greek monk seal conservation organisation, MOm. The pup, named ‘Phokion’ by local school students, was evacuated to the organisation’s treatment ‘unit’ in Steni Vala, on the island of Alonnisos on 17 February. Treatment is proceeding under veterinary supervision.
A leaked video purporting to show conservationists administering human contact “aversion therapy” to rehabilitated monk seal Badem, has sparked anger and indignation among academics and the general public both in Turkey and abroad.
The video, reportedly dated 3 April 2008, appears to show Badem’s carers hitting the seal repeatedly with a stick in what is assumed to be an effort to instil in the animal a reluctance to approach and interact with humans. TMG has requested clarification from the organisation responsible, the Mediterranean Seal Research Group (AFAG), and hopes to publish its response in due course.
The famous monk seal orphan has been in and out of captivity repeatedly due to her increasingly boisterous — and at times, dangerous — interactions with summer bathers.
The leaked video has appeared in major Turkish media outlets, including Milliyet and CNNTurk.
On the 25 March in the area of Ain Gazzalla (Northeast Libya near the Egyptian border, 32.23284 N, 23.2848 E) a group of fishermen found a dead female monk seal trapped in their net. The case was reported to the coastguard who in turn informed the National Marine Laboratory. The carcass is now in their possession at the Lab and an autopsy is being arranged during this week.
In a brief announcement on its 
According to Turkish press reports, the veterinarian charged with beating orphaned monk seal Badem during an ill-conceived ‘aversion therapy’ programme, has received a court sanctioned fine of 848 TL. (approximately $470). It remains unclear whether the Foça town abattoir vet, Avni Gök, will be banned from future monk seal rehabilitations.
Murphy S, Spradlin TR, Mackey B, McVee J and others. 2012. Age estimation, growth and age-related mortality of Mediterranean monk seals Monachus monachus. Endang Species Res 16:149-163. [
