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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
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
16th April, 2010
Press Watch, Honolulu Star Bulletin, April 16, 2010
 A female monk seal, nicknamed Mikala, was found drowned Tuesday, wrapped in a gillnet off of Bellows Beach. The state Department of Land and Natural Resources is investigating the apparent drowning of a 9 1/2 -month-old Hawaiian monk seal that was discovered tangled in a gillnet—the sixth such death since 1976.
At 10:26 a.m. Tuesday, the female monk seal, identified by scientists as RA14, was spotted floating off Bellows Beach. Lifeguards discovered the seal wrapped in a monofilament gillnet and pulled her from the water.
Necropsy results determined the seal, nicknamed Mikala, died of an apparent drowning due to the entanglement. [...]
The Conservation and Resources Enforcement Division seized the netting as part of its investigation. It is unknown who owns the net.
Under state law all lay nets must be registered with the Department of Land and Natural Resources. It is unlawful to leave a lay net unattended for more than a half-hour. Nets also must be inspected within two hours after they are set.
Hawaiian monk seals are protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Killing one is punishable by up to a year in jail and a $50,000 fine. [...]
Full Story
23rd November, 2009
 Just published: the November 2009 issue of The Monachus Guardian, the biannual electronic journal focusing on the Mediterranean, Hawaiian and Caribbean monk seals. The site can be accessed at <http://www.monachus-guardian.org>
This issue features news and articles by some 30 authors from 13 countries from across the range of the genus, from Hawaii to Mauritania, Turkey to Spain, Madeira to Greece.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CURRENT ISSUE:
Guest Editorial: Monk seals and fisheries need attention, education and cooperation, by Trisha Kehaulani Watson.
International News: Quebec workshop builds Med-Pacific links, but will action ever follow?…
Hawaiian News: Short-lived freedom for KP2…
Mediterranean News: Greece: Orphaned, newborn monk seal rescued at Kefalonia… Madeira: Young seal chooses busy Funchal as home… Mauritania: Reaching the 50-pup mark at Cabo Blanco… Turkey: Monk seals monitored at Karaburun Peninsula…
Cover Story: Tracking Artemis: Making sense out of a young seal’s death, by Panagiotis Dendrinos & Emily Joseph.
In Focus I: Progressive re-colonization of monk seal resting and reproduction habitats as the result of strict protection, by Pablo Fernández de Larrinoa, Hamdi M’Barek, Moulaye Haye, Miguel Ángel Cedenilla, Mercedes Muñoz, Ana Maroto & Luis Mariano González.
In Focus II: Monk seal sightings in Italy move to the central Tyrrhenian sea, by Giulia Mo.
Perspectives I: Tackling the conflict between seals and fisheries in Greece: an end or a beginning? by Stella Adamantopoulou and Vangelis Paravas.
Perspectives II: Mallorca’s lone seal: the 2009 follow-up, by Antoni Font and Joan Mayol.
Letters to the Editor: Seals of Coincidence, by Professor Keith Ronald… and Mediterranean monk seal encounters – Dos and Don’ts, by Marianna Psaradellis…
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>.
16th May, 2009
 Orphaned monk seal pup ‘Artemis’ has been found dead on Skiathos in the Northern Sporades.
The body was discovered on 14 May 2009, floating in Skiathos harbour. It was transferred the same day to Athens for necropsy, conducted by Prof. Dr. Thijs Kuiken, a veterinary pathologist specialising in marine mammals from Erasmus University, Rotterdam.
The necropsy established that Artemis was in excellent nutritional condition and overall health, with a body weight normal for her age. There was clear evidence that the seal had died as a result of drowning – most probably the result of becoming entangled in fishing gear.
→ Continue reading Artemis found dead on Skiathos
7th May, 2009
Image Gallery: Monk Seals and Fishhooks, Honolulu Advertiser, 6 May 2009.
Images by Photos by ANDREW SHIMABUKU | The Honolulu Advertiser.
 The barbed fishing hook removed from Kermit, next to a non-barbed hook NOAA is encouraging fishers to use. NOAA is giving away free barbless hooks
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