Rosa Pires, Parque Natural da Madeira Service

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.

— by Rosa Pires, Parque Natural da Madeira Service

‘Desertinha’ at the Museum of Natural History. Photo: Rosa Pires

Following her death in late 2008, Madeira’s most popular monk seal, “Desertinha”, will be put on public display as a taxidermic model. The work, by a Portuguese taxidermist and sponsored by Deutsche Bank, was first presented to the public on 17 June at the Museum of Natural History in the Botanical Gardens, Funchal.

‘Desertinha’ gained local fame in 2006 after sustaining a serious injury to the lower limbs, her plight creating a huge wave of sympathy from Madeirans. This resulted in the most prominent conservation campaign ever made in the region [see Seal finds stardom, TMG 9(2): 2006].

Desertinha was first identified in 1993 and was monitored by the staff of the Parque Natural da Madeira Service over 16 years. After being found ill in Madeira in 2008, she was transferred to the Rehabilitation Unit on the Desertas Islands, where she died due to cardiac arrest, on 1 December [see Our monk seal ambassador, ‘Desertinha’ dies in Madeira, TMG 12(1): 2009].

Following display at the Museum of Natural History, the Desertinha exhibit was presented at the Expo Madeira from 8 to 17 July. The work will be put on permanent display at the Whale Museum of Madeira, which will be inaugurated in September this year.

Media Watch, Madeira News Blog, 17 November 2010

Wonderful photographs of the most endangered seal on the planet The Mediterranean Monk Seal by Nuno Sá off The Desertas Islands archipelago part of the Portuguese region of Madeira where there is a small but growing colony of the seals.

‘Wild Wonders of Europe’ website reports:

“Nuno was privileged to capture the courtship and mating behaviour of this extremely rare marine mammal.”

Wild Wonders of Europe Gallery

Full Story [Madeira News Blog]