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Monk Seal Latest News
1st August, 2010
Media Watch, Thomas Schultze-Westrum, EcoCommunications, August 1, 2010
Seals and coastal fishermen face identical threats, more than just the rapid depletion of fish resources by exploitive trawlers…
“Indiscriminate seal killers” … With this unjust accusation against the coastal fishermen – our allies from the beginning – the Hellenic Society for the Study and Protection of the Monk Seal (MOm) and their associates have demonstrated clearly their incompetence and regardless diffamation [sic], actually the total failure of their strategy. Because, at the time when MOm was founded, already there existed a full collaboration between the cooperative of the fishermen of Alonnisos and the conservation movement on behalf of the seals – see the “Declaration by the Fishermen of Alonnisos” of 1982 below. By this consensus the seals had become valued allies of the fishermen, in their function as guarantors of exclusive fishing rights in the coastal waters of the archipelago.
Full Story
26th July, 2010
Press Watch, TO BHMA Online (ΝΙΚΟΣ ΧΑΣΑΠΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ), July 25, 2010
 Η παρ΄ ολίγον ενδοκυβερνητική «κρίση» όταν η κυρία Τίνα Μπιρμπίλη ζήτησε από την κυρία Κατερίνα Μπατζελή να απαγορευθεί η αλιεία στις περιοχές όπου υπάρχουν φώκες
Η μεσογειακή φώκια, το συμπαθές αυτό προστατευόμενο θαλάσσιο θηλαστικό, ήλθε ξαφνικά μεσούντος του θέρους να ταράξει τα ήδη ταραγμένα νερά στις ενδοκυβερνητικές διαμάχες. Δύο ωραίες κυρίες του Υπουργικού Συμβουλίου, στην προσπάθειά τους να κατοχυρώσουν τις όποιες αρμοδιότητες κι αν έχουν στο θαλάσσιο περιβάλλον, έπεσαν πάνω στη φώκια και έφθασαν μάλιστα στο σημείο να τη χαρακτηρίσουν ακόμη και… δέντρο. Η υπουργός Περιβάλλοντος, Ενέργειας και Κλιματικής Αλλαγής κυρία Τίνα Μπιρμπίλη και η υπουργός Αγροτικής Ανάπτυξης και Τροφίμων κυρία Κατερίνα Μπατζελή άρχισαν αιφνιδίως να αλληλογραφούν τι θα γίνει με τις φώκες και πώς αυτές θα περισωθούν. Ωσάν να έμειναν και πολλές στη Μεσόγειο. Ούτε καν 450, από τις οποίες οι 250 ζουν στα νερά της Ελλάδας και της Τουρκίας. [...]
2nd July, 2010
Editorial, The Monachus Guardian, June 2010
 It is hard to imagine anyone not being moved by the tragic tale of ‘Markos’ – the young Mediterranean monk seal who was brought into intensive care, struggling for life, but horribly mutilated by the bullet that shattered his jaw and nasal cavity.
Possibly it was a blessing in disguise that, despite the valiant attempts to save him, he ultimately succumbed to his injuries, for it seemed doubtful that he would ever swim, dive, or grace the Aegean again.
The killing of monk seals in Greece, according to national NGO MOm, is reaching “epidemic proportions”.
The organisation has recorded 15 deaths since January, 5 of which yielded conclusive evidence of deliberate killing. Another killing by gunfire was reported in Turkey on the Bodrum peninsula on 21 April. With other killings just as likely to go undetected along remote coastlines, the final death toll is anybody’s guess.
Full Story
10th June, 2010
Press Watch, Hawai’i Magazine.com, 9 June 2010
 A bill seeking tougher penalties for anyone caught intentionally harming the Hawaiian monk seal, or other endangered Hawaii species, became state law this week.
Hawaii Lt. Gov. James “Duke” Aiona signed Senate Bill 2441 into law, making the intentional harassing, harming or killing of a monk seal—or any endangered or threatened Hawaii species—a class C felony. The new Hawaii law extends punishment already imposed by violations of the federal Endangered Species Act, to include a fine of up to $50,000 and five years in prison. [...]
Full Story
3rd June, 2010
 Just published: the June 2010 issue of The Monachus Guardian, the biannual journal focusing on the Mediterranean, Hawaiian and Caribbean monk seals.
This issue of The Monachus Guardian brings a special focus to the Mediterranean monk seals shot and dynamited in the Eastern Mediterranean since January. What is actually being done to eliminate the single most serious mortality threat confronting the species?
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CURRENT ISSUE:
Editorial: An epidemic of killings.
Hawaiian News: Seal numbers continue to dive…
Mediterranean News: Greece: Alarming numbers of dead seals… Mauritania: Record births at Cabo Blanco… Turkey: Monk seal deaths in the Turkish Aegean… New population size assessment study in the NE Mediterranean…
Cover Story: Markos’ Case: Trauma, treatment, and reflections, by Emily Joseph.
In Focus I: Monk seal killed by dynamite blast in the Aegean, by Anastasia Miliou.
In Focus II: Nefeli’s rehabilitation: methods, results, and challenges, by Emily Joseph.
Perspectives: The world’s two remaining monk seal species: how many different ways are there of being Critically Endangered? by Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara.
Research: Mediterranean monk seal, Monachus monachus, re-sighted along the Israeli coastline after more than half a century, by Aviad Scheinin, Oz Goffman, Mia Elasar and Dani Kerem…
Recent Publications.
The current and back issues of The Monachus Guardian are also available from the Monk Seal Library <http://www.monachus-guardian.org/library.htm>.
2nd May, 2010
Killings reaching ‘epidemic proportions’
 A young Mediterranean monk seal remains in critical condition after being shot on the Aegean island of Evia, Greece.
The incident follows a spate of reported monk seal killings in Greece.
Greek monk seal protection NGO MOm dispatched a rescue team to the site after receiving an alert from the Port Police Authority on 27 April.
Estimated at 4 months of age, the male weaned pup was found stranded on the secluded beach of Madoudi in northern Evia. Initial examination on site revealed that it had suffered severe trauma, the bullet entering one side of the head and cutting through the animal’s nasal cavity, before exiting on the other.
Following emergency first aid, the pup was transferred to the Veterinary School of the University of Thessalonica, for further examination and treatment by Professor Natassa Komninou and MOm personnel.
X-rays confirmed that ‘Markos’ — as the pup was subsequently named by MOm — suffered a bullet wound to the head, resulting in the loss of his right eye and a serious fracture to his upper jaw.
→ Continue reading Young seal shot in Greece
18th December, 2009
Press Watch, Honolulu Advertiser, December 17, 2009
 Molokai resident Leimana Naki said he found this dead Hawaiian monk seal outside the reef breakers near Kahinapohaku Fishpond and towed it to shore with his kayak. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service’s Office of Law Enforcement is investigating the recent death of an endangered Hawaiian monk seal on Molokai as a deliberate killing.
An adult male monk seal was discovered dead on Monday, southeast of Kaunakakai, said David Schofield, with NOAA’s Pacific Island Regional Office’s marine mammal response program.
A necropsy of the seal on Tuesday determined that it had been killed intentionally, Schofield said. [...]
Anyone with information about the seal’s death is encouraged to call NOAA’s 24-hour enforcement hot line at 800-853-1964. [...]
This year on Kauai, two Hawaiian monk seals have been deliberately killed, alarming conservationists who are working hard to preserve the rare seals, which are found only in Hawaii. The wild population of the seals is 1,200 or less and dropping 4 percent a year. [...]
Full Story
13th December, 2009
NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement has issued a WANTED poster for “information leading to the arrest and conviction of person(s) responsible for killing Hawaiian Monk Seal RI-19″.
(Download poster as PDF)
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