A message to our readers and contributors

The Monachus GuardianSeeking a more effective model in reporting the challenges affecting conservation of the Mediterranean and Hawaiian monk seals, we have decided to cease publication of The Monachus Guardian as a biannual journal. Perhaps inevitably in this age of cutbacks, lack of funding for the Guardian also proved a contributing factor.

After 26 issues and 13 years, we take this decision with some regret, but believe that the redesigned TMG offers advantages in reporting developments as they happen, as well as allowing publication of articles or features, editorials and letters to the editor on an intermittent basis. Please consult our submissions guidelines for further details.

As a consequence of these changes, requests for submissions and announcements of publication will no longer be sent to existing subscribers by email. Readers seeking timely alerts of newly published articles or news items are encouraged to subscribe to our RSS-feed.

As always, we would look forward to hearing your views, both on The Monachus Guardian itself and monk seal conservation in general.

Needless to say, any leads on possible funding avenues that might keep TMG alive and kicking, would be gratefully received.

— William M. Johnson (Editor) | Matthias Schnellmann (Publisher)

Help the Guardian stay online

Support monk seal conservation. Help us stay on line. The Monachus Guardian is the only dedicated source of news and information on the world’s endangered monk seals. Its publication fulfils explicit recommendations of international conservation action plans for the species.

Since its first issue in May 1998, it has carried reports, news and opinion from over 200 contributors in 30+ countries, including 150 feature or scientific articles and over 1,000 news items. Its authors have ranged from Mediterranean fishermen to UN diplomats, government ministers to marine park managers, ecological historians to veterinarians.

If you read or make use of The Monachus Guardian, and support its objectives to bring monk seal conservation to an international readership, please consider making a financial contribution securely via PayPal to keep the journal and website online.

For comments or suggestions, including possible funding leads that might keep The Monachus Guardian alive and kicking, please contact us at info@monachus-guardian.org.

Thank you.

JUST PUBLISHED: Monachus Guardian December 2010

Just published: the December 2010 issue of The Monachus Guardian, the biannual journal focusing on the Mediterranean, Hawaiian and Caribbean monk seals.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CURRENT ISSUE:

Guest Editorial: Growing up with monk seals in Madeira, by Gil Pereira.

International News: IUCN let down…

Hawaiian News: Updates from Papahānaumokuākea and the Main Hawaiian Islands…

Mediterranean News: Greece: Lazarus dies in rehab… Mauritania: New productivity record… Turkey: Monk seal pup rescued in Aydıncık, Mersin…

Cover Story: Cave habitats used by Mediterranean monk seals in Sardinia, by Luigi Bundone.

In Focus I: Mediterranean monk seal mortality in 2010 in Greece, by Marianna Psaradellis, Vangelis Paravas and Alexandros A. Karamanlidis.

In Focus II: Three monk seal encounters in the Northern Gulf of Evia, Greece, by Giovanni Bearzi and Silvia Bonizzoni.

Perspectives: A new healthcare facility for Hawaiian monk seals in Kona, Hawaii, by Jeff Boehm.

Letters to the Editor: including Genetic scepticism – just how important is genetic research to the conservation of the Mediterranean monk seal?

Recent Publications

The current and back issues of The Monachus Guardian are also available from the Monk Seal Library.

Just published: Monachus Guardian 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>.

Monachus Guardian in Spanish

Thanks to the support of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Spain, the June 2009 issue of The Monachus Guardian has now been published in Spanish. (Publication of the November 2009 issue will follow shortly.)

If you have Spanish-language friends or colleagues who you think might be interested in the publication, please let them know.

The Spanish translation can be accessed at: http://www.monachus-guardian.org/spanish.