The Mediterranean Monk Seal in Palestinian, Mediterranean and Atlantic Waters.

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The Mediterranean Monk Seal (Monachus monachus, Hermann 1779) in Palestinian, Mediterranean and Atlantic Waters By: Dr. Sc. Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa

Taxonomy Scientific name: Monachus monachus Hermann, 1779.

Common names: Engl.: Mediterranean Monk Seal; Arab.: Fuqma, Faqma; Russ.: Tyulen'; Turk.: Akdeniz foku; Ger.: Mittelmeer-Mönchsrobbe.

Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Suborder: Pinnipedia Family: Phocidae Subfamily: Monachinae Genus: Monachus Species: Monachus monachus

Natural History The Mediterranean monk seal averages 2.4 m in length (nose to tail) and is believed to weigh 250-300 kg. Females are only slightly smaller than males.

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2 Adult males are black with a white belly patch; adult females are generally brown or grey with a lighter belly colouration. Other irregular light patches are not unusual, mainly on the throats of males and on the backs of females; this is often due to scarring sustained in social and mating interactions.

Adult Monachus monachus are robust, with short flippers, a long fusiform body, and a proportionally small head. The head is wide and somewhat flat, with the eyes spaced fairly widely. The muzzle is particularly wide, but compressed from top to bottom. The nostrils are situated at the top of the muzzle. The vibrissae are smooth, females have 4 retractable teats. Coloration varies in low isolated sub populations. Most of the animals are dark, brown. Some of the animals have a large white belly patch.

When born, pups measure 88-103 cm in length and weigh 15-20 kg. Unlike the now extinct Caribbean monk seal and the Hawaiian monk seal, Mediterranean monk seal pups are born with a white belly patch on the otherwise black to dark chocolate, woolly coat.

Extirpated from much of its original habitat by human persecution and disturbance, females now tend to give birth only in caves in remote areas, often along desolate, cliffbound coasts.

Males and females are thought to reach sexual maturity between 5 and 6 years, although some females may mature as early as 4 years. Although pups may be born during any part of the year, over most of the species‟ current distribution range, pupping takes place in summer or autumn. Observations suggest that whelping is asynchronous in this species and may take place year round. Gestation considered being 11 months.

Monk seal pups can swim and dive with ease by the time they are about two weeks old and are weaned at about 16-17 weeks. Monk seals are mainly thought to feed in shallow coastal waters for fishes like Sea Bream, Sea bass, Mullet, Bonito and cephalopods, such as octopus and squid. Individuals are believed to live up to 20-30 years in the wild.

Status The Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) is one of the world‟s most endangered marine mammals, with fewer than 500 individuals currently surviving.

The species is described as ”critically endangered” by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and is listed on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Other international legal mechanisms which recognise and attempt to address the monk seal‟s critically endangered status include the Bonn Convention (Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals), the Bern Convention (Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats), the Convention on Biological Diversity and the EU Habitats Directive.

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History and Exploitation In ancient Greece, Nature was safeguarded by deep religious faith, not legislation. Earth was venerated as the „oldest of the gods‟, Gaia, the mother of all. Monk seals were placed under the protection of Poseidon and Apollo because they showed a great love for sea and sun, and the killing of a seal or dolphin was often regarded as a sacrilege. One of the first coins, minted around 500 BC, depicted the head of a monk seal, and the creatures were immortalized in the writings of Homer, Plutarch and Aristotle. To fishermen and seafarers, catching sight of the animals frolicking in the waves or loafing on the beaches was considered to be an omen of good fortune.

Detail from a Caeretan hydria (water jug), c. 520-510 BC.

For the following two thousand years the monk seal had the protection of no god or human law. The seals lived in large herds, throughout the Mediterranean, the Marmara and Black seas, as well as the north-west Atlantic coast of Africa. From prehistoric times until the early 19th century, humans hunted seals for the basic necessities of their own survival – fur, oil and meat – but did not kill them in large enough numbers to endanger their existence as a species. The pelts were used to make boats and tents and were said to give protection against Nature‟s more hostile elements, especially lightning. The skins were also made into shoes and clothing, and the fat used for oil lamps and tallow candles, and the fat was also used to treat wounds and contusions in both humans and domestic animals. Because the animal was known to sleep so soundly, the right flipper of a seal, placed under the pillow, was thought to cure insomnia.

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4 Evidence suggests that the species was severely depleted during the Roman era.

Following the fall of the empire, a reduction in demand may have allowed the monk seal to stage a temporary recovery, but not to earlier population levels. Commercial exploitation peaked again in certain areas during the Middle Ages, effectively wiping out the largest surviving colonies. Increasingly, survivors no longer congregated on open beaches and headlong rocks, but sought refuge along inaccessible cliff-bound coasts and in caves (often with underwater entrances). By the 19th century, however, the seal slaughter had become a commercial enterprise verging on genocide, and numerous colonies were becoming extinct. Because of their trusting nature they were easy prey.

Tens of thousands were bludgeoned to death, their skins put on sale in the fashionable capitals of Europe. Although hunting of the creatures on this scale rapidly became unfeasible, they never recovered. The massive disruption of two world wars, the industrial revolution, a boom in tourism and the onset of industrial fishing all contributed to the Mediterranean monk seal‟s decline. Their numbers may have been reduced by go per cent in the last seventy years and the species will be virtually extinct by 2010 if nothing is done to save them.

A Renaissance woodcut of a Mediterranean monk seal (from Guillaume Rondelet, 1554).

As the fishing grounds begin to collapse under fierce commercial competition, the seals are faced with a scarcity of food. The hungry animals then tear their way into fishing nets to obtain their meal. In this vicious circle, fishermen have come to regard the seal as an enemy which destroys their nets and steals their fish. Although the seals often get trapped in the nets and drown, the fishermen usually don‟t hesitate to kill the creature when the opportunity presents itself. Depressingly frequent reports have revealed that the seals are often the victims of deliberate cruelty, unjustly held responsible for a sea which is rapidly becoming exhausted by human greed. Kicked, stoned, shot and dynamited, this is the price that the monk seal has to pay for our own ecological ignorance.

The centuries of persecution have also had a profound psychological effect upon the seals, and they are now literally terrified of human disturbance. Only in Mauritania have the seals managed to retain their frolicsome nature and their innocent curiosity towards the few human beings who venture into their peaceful refuge of sandy beaches and arching caves. Here, undisturbed, the seals have formed their largest colonies, numbering up to sixty individuals.

Mauritania may represent one of the last truly natural habitats of the monk seal, where the animals can still be seen basking in the sun or playing with their pups in the gentle surf.

But in the Mediterranean, mass tourism and urbanization have driven the seals away from Gazelle – Number 85 – January 2009

5 the beaches to inhabit rocky and desolate coastlines. With a boom in pleasure-boating, even these areas are now coming under threat, particularly as the seals give birth between May and November, during the height of the tourist season. The killing of a monk seal may be illegal on paper, but the animals are still the target of sports hunters and even tourists with spear-guns. The last seals of Tunisia, in the Galite archipelago, disappeared in 1985. Two were reportedly captured for an Italian travelling circus, and another speared by a snorkeling Italian tourist.

Fisherman mending his seal-damaged nets on Leros Once renowned for their friendly and confiding nature, the seals have now been forced to hide and give birth in dismal caves as a last refuge for their lives. It is doubtful that this will help them survive. Autumn and winter storms often cause breakers to surge into the caves, washing the weaning pups out into the sea where they drown. Human disturbance can also break the fragile mother-pup bond during the 16-week weaning period, leaving the infant seal to perish, unable to fend for itself. There has even been evidence of mothers aborting their young, apparently because of the fright and panic inspired by their only predator, Homo sapiens.

Today, no more than 350-500 seals have managed to survive this relentless persecution, and the species has disappeared from most of its former range. Scattered colonies, often numbering no more than two or three individuals, are now found along the coasts of Madeira, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Sardinia and ex-Yugoslavia. But almost three-quarters of the entire remaining monk seal population has found its last refuge in the Aegean, especially on the Greek and Turkish borders, a tense military zone.

Military exercises with warships, fighter planes, tanks and artillery, the sowing of minefields along beaches, the relentless growth of habitat-devouring military installations – all of these have a silent but insidious bearing on Mediterranean wildlife. And the

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6 military threat to the seals is not only apparent in the eastern Aegean, but also in Spain and Mauritania. Each summer, 1,500 Spanish soldiers invade the tiny island of Cabrera, just off the coast of Majorca, to practice artillery and small arms fire. By the early 1960s, the last two monk seals of the island had disappeared; the maneuvers had either driven them away or they had perished during target practice. On the coast, entire caves had been sunk and demolished with artillery shells. Other endangered species had also been killed under the direct impact of cannon fire. The osprey, Eleonora‟s falcon and Audouin‟s gull, the rarest seagull in the world – their bodies littered the island.

A monk seal colony north of Mauritania‟s border with the Sahara has also suffered the casualties of war. The territory has been proclaimed as the Arab Democratic Republic of the Sahara by Polisario (Frente Popular para la Liberación de Saguia el Hamra y Río de Oro) guerrillas who are waging a bitter war against Morocco. Although Mauritania reached an accord with the Polisario in 1980, travel north of the border is still considered dangerous, due in part to the guerrillas‟ own trigger-happiness. Bored soldiers on both sides of the border have been taking pot shots at the seals and, despite the area‟s remoteness; several seal deaths have been recorded.

The precise origins of the monk seal‟s name have long been lost to obscurity and the flow of time. In Greek mythology the seal was represented as the god Phokos, son of Poseidon. Several towns and villages were named after the seal god, and even today the Greek word for seal continues to be phokia. Pliny the elder, ancient Rome‟s renowned scholar of natural history, knew the animals as sea-calves and remarked that they „could be taught to salute the public with their voice, and when called by name to reply with a harsh roar.‟ Rather more mystically, he added that at night „their eyes change frequently into a thousand colours.‟ But it was not until 1779 that the German naturalist Johann Hermann officially christened the species Monachus. The choice may have been inspired

by Hermann‟s belief in the animal‟s innate reclusiveness following his discovery of a lone seal on the Dalmatian coast. On the other hand, some naturalists believe that Hermann merely adopted a traditional name for the seal from certain local fishing communities on the shores of the Mediterranean which knew the creature as „monk‟ because of the colour of its fur. Indeed, many centuries earlier, Pliny too thought that the rows of seals he observed stretched out on the sands bore a striking resemblance to a congregation of hooded humans. Sometimes, the darker fur around the head of the seal lends weight to this impression.

In Italy, monk seals were once numerous along the coasts of Sicily, Sardinia Tuscany and the Adriatic. The Roman Emperor Octavius Augustus kept seals as exotic pets in 29 BC, just as the empire was razing forests for its fleets of warships and devastating almost every wild species it came across. Two thousand years later, in 1951, the London Times reported that passers-by were astonished to see a seal swimming in Rome‟s Piazza da Trevi fountain. „The animal was the property of two Roman journalists,‟ the Times reported, „who had brought it back from Sardinia and who apparently thought it suitable that the seal should have a swim in such famous surroundings. A literal-minded policeman fined them for contravening a by-law which prohibits the throwing of anything but money in the fountain, and they and the seal then departed in a motor-car.‟

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7 Today it is estimated that only two seals live around the shores of Sardinia, in the east coast‟s Golfo d‟Oresei. They may share the tragedy of being the only surviving members of their species in the whole of Italy. With tens of thousands of holiday-makers visiting the island every summer and a boom in pleasure-boating and spear-fishing, the last seals of Italy could literally become extinct at any moment. The coasts of Sicily and Tuscany probably lost their last seals more than ten years ago. In 1978, another pair of seals was regularly observed around the island of Montecristo, but once again, government protection, in the form of a marine sanctuary, came too late to save them. The tragedy illustrates the archetypal reaction of bureaucracies to the plight of the monk seal, that of reluctantly taking measures which are habitually too little, too late.

A neonate monk seal pup photographed in a cave in the Golfo d‟Orosei in Sardinia in 1971.

In a similar bureaucratic blunder, Corsica‟s last pair of seals was killed by fishermen in 1976, just eight weeks before the inaugural ceremonies of a marine sanctuary designed to protect the animals. The last seals of greater France died on the Isles d‟Hyeres in 1935, and today the only trace of the monk seal is its depiction in the prehistoric cave paintings found in the Pyrenees. The seal became extinct in Palestine, Libya, Syria and Lebanon in the 1950s, helped on its way by war. Up to fifty seals may survive along the coasts of Algeria, in part because Moslem fishermen still believe the killing of the animals to be a sin. Further west, small groups of seals are still found along the shores of Morocco and the nearby Chafarinas Islands which belong to Spain. Of the Atlantic monk seals, which may differ genetically from their Mediterranean cousins, the wounded seal that was captured on one of the Lanzarote Islands in 1983 probably spelled the extinction of the species in the Canary Islands.

Monk seals were abundant around the precipitous and volcanic coastlines of Madeira during the last centuries, but human pressure has driven them away to the desolate and uninhabited Desertas islands lying off the southern tip of Madeira. Here, no more than six individuals have managed to retain a precarious hold on life. The Desertas also lie in traditional fishing grounds where fishermen often lose their nets to the rocky seabed.

Because these are now made of synthetic materials, they then become what are known as „ghost nets‟, trapping and killing marine wildlife almost forever. As young seals play

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8 with the debris, the net fragments can become entwined about their throats and gradually, over many months as the seal grows, the animal is choked to death in agony.

On the Dalmatian coast of ex-Yugoslavia and its scattering of offshore islands, no more than twenty seals have managed to survive the onslaughts of mass tourism. Little is known of the Russian seals, inhabiting the waters of the Crimea, but they are reliably believed to be extinct. Further west, however, some individuals may still survive in the ex-Soviet waters of the Black sea, if only because on the Turkish side, up to thirty animals are thought to be still alive.

Since the monk seal has become so shy and retiring, only one thing can be said with certainty, and that is that the war against the species and its habitat rages unabated, and all in the name of progress. As for the sanctuaries that benevolent humankind is willing to provide for the creature, they are few and far between. Ironically, it was one of the poorest Third World countries, Mauritania, which first opened a refuge for the seals.

There are two more in Turkey and one perennially due to open in the Northern Sporades islands of Greece, far away from the eastern Aegean but an important colony, perhaps holding up to thirty individuals. Other parks are planned for Madeira‟s Desertas islands, for the Chafarinas of Spain and the Golfo d‟Oresei in Sardinia. But bureaucracy being what it is, some of these may well open to protect no more than a desolate memory, their last seals killed before the departments and committees and conferences have written and sifted through their mountains of paperwork.

It became obvious that saving the monk seal would be one of the most formidable tasks ever undertaken by the conservation movement. So numerous, so diverse and so critical were the problems facing this persecuted animal that only a holistic campaign would have any chance of success. And it would be a fight against time. For decades, its plight had aroused little more than reluctant platitudes of concern. The monk seal was perhaps one of the most forgotten endangered species in the entire world. While Europeans were waging a bitter struggle against the slaughter of harp seal pups on Canada‟s distant, blood-stained ice-floes, their own monk seals were being allowed to perish in total obscurity. There was no public outcry, no great media extravaganza, no one willing to risk their reputation let alone their life for the species.

What then is the cause of this neglect? One reason is the virtually secret triage strategy which has been adopted by the world‟s most influential conservationists. Swamped by a seemingly endless series of ecological catastrophes, and facing the extinction of up to a million animal and plant species by the year 2010, the movement, rather than reform itself, is now faced with the hideous dilemma of salvaging whatever life it can from the holocaust and leaving the rest to perish. It borrowed the triage strategy from the Allied commanders of the First World War who, during the hellish nightmares of trench warfare, were forced to divide the wounded into three separate groups; those that would be left to die since they were not worth squandering precious medicines upon, those that would hopefully survive without any medical attention at all, and finally, those that were deemed worthy of help. The decisions were pitiless, devoid of sentiment or favouritism.

Even the best of friends could be left to die in slow agony. But in today‟s triage, it is

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9 often the demigods in the hierarchies of the world‟s conservation organizations, in their plush offices, Hotels and conference rooms, who are deciding which species to rescue and which will be left to die. More often than not, the decision is entirely subjective and may be based on no more than pettiness and personal prejudice. Each conservationist may have their own favourite and so a species may also be sacrificed by whoever happens to be gaining the upper hand in a particular internal feud. This is how Homo sapiens play God in the 21st century.

The harp seal slaughter had all the ingredients of media sensation: the evil hunters, the fluffy white pups, innocent and vulnerable, the crusaders who put their own bodies between seal and club. No issue could be more clear-cut, and so the triage made another of its expedient decisions. It didn‟t matter that there were literally hundreds of thousands of seals on the ice, or that they are not strictly considered to be an endangered species.

But the very foundations of triage are rooted in division, something that the conservation movement is no stranger to. It was not until years later that it was realized why triage had sacrificed the monk seal. The answer lay in the complex and interrelated factors which were killing off the species. For the realists who control most of the world‟s conservation organizations, the monk seal presented no easy and media-communicable solutions.

Many of those attending the Rhodes monk seal conference in May 1978, had been scientists whose professional interests lay primarily in research, not conservation. This was a distinction not altogether clear at first, since almost every working paper was concluded with a list of desirable protective measures. But who was to implement those measures? The gulf between ecology in theory and conservation in practice, like so many others in our fragmented society, is a limbo of confusion. Furthermore, it is the research, the conferences, the Paper Mountains of ecological bureaucracy which bleed and starve meaningful conservation of its resources, talent and ingenuity.

A detailed and ambitious project plan was written on Samos. A holistic project was needed, not only to assure the survival of the monk seal, but also to carve out viable alternatives for the islands, suffering the same onslaughts of mass tourism, urbanization and pollution.

The first priority would be the creation of a network of twenty or more biogenetic reserves in the eastern Aegean. Since the seal colonies were so small and scattered, the „one reserve at a time‟ mentality, often taking up to a decade to accomplish, would have to be replaced with a decisive policy of isolating all the most important whelping sites from human disturbance. As a temporary measure, it was suggested that this could be achieved by semi-unilateral action, though with the support of the government. The fishermen would be paid to stay out of the most critical areas, and appoint Greek observers to monitor the whelping sites. At the same time, pressure would be brought to bear on the government to have the areas declared strictly protected by law.

The biogenetic reserves, being in remote areas, would also protect other endangered species and could also incorporate reforestation Programmes, helping to sustain the

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10 ecological equilibrium of the entire island. In the buffer zones to the reserves, it was proposed that pesticide use should be banned and that a sub-project on biodynamic farming be established. Tackling the over fishing crisis of the islands, it was hoped that the undisturbed reserves would also act as fish breeding grounds, but a pilot project was also advocated in small-scale aquaculture, in which a family or group of families could raise fish for their own consumption or for the marketplace. This might allow other important fishing grounds around the islands to recover.

It was hoped that alternative energy sources might also be utilized in these sub-projects, and perhaps even in the exhibition centers which was envisaged would be built in the buffer zones to the reserves. The use of sun, wind and water energy might show how individual families could lessen their dependence on the polluting and oil-burning generators of the islands.

We would get the message across to the local population with educational Programmes in schools, with concerts and exhibitions. We would thus try to point out the links between the cultural decline of the islands, the dying villages and crafts, and the dying forests, sea and seals. Only when these links could be clearly perceived would alternatives be embraced voluntarily by the people. By restoring traditions and local crafts, for instance, and by portraying their island as a friend of Nature, an alternative and dignified kind of tourism might develop in harmony with a fragile culture and environment.

We would also need to establish a bond of trust with the traditional subsistence fishermen of the islands who feel most threatened by the monk seal. We would have to convince them that the seal has become little more than a convenient scapegoat, eclipsing the culpability of the commercial fisheries which are poaching and exhausting their fishing grounds. Although the larger open-sea trawlers are not permitted to lower their nets within 3 kilometers of the coast, they regularly flout the law, taking advantage of the fishery authorityâ€&#x;s lack of staff end patrol boats. The end result is that the traditional fishermen are left with dwindling catches, and prompted by hunger; the seals then attack their nets to obtain the food that they and their pups need to survive. It is a vicious circle, and one largely ignored by the government because only the commercial fisheries have lobbying power in the city.

There is a government-run Hydrobiological Station on Rhodes, the aquarium there, had over the years, tried to rear a number of monk seals in captivity. The facilities in the aquarium are shabby and primitive. It was wondered how on earth any scientist worthy of the name could expect a monk seal to thrive under such deplorable conditions, the filthy concrete pools, the squalid hutches meant to simulate the protection of their caves, the rusty railings behind which goggling visitors could observe the most endangered seal species in the world. And indeed every seal that had been brought into captivity here had perished; a total of eight individuals between 1960 and 1980. On one occasion, apparently desperate for seals, fishermen had been asked to bring to the aquarium any that they happened to find wounded, orphaned or abandoned. Not surprisingly, some fishermen promptly wounded a number of seals and dutifully brought them to the aquarium. But still this did not quench the vain curiosities of Science, all cloaked in the

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11 glowing altruism of conservation. One over-zealous employee of the aquarium had even barged into the nearest seal cave and virtually snatched a pup from its mother. Bringing it back to these concrete pools, the creature perished after only 40 days, and perhaps predictably, Science was unable to determine the cause of death, since to its clinical mind the pup could not possibly have succumbed to something as simple as loneliness and a broken heart.

Another seal, an adult, had been brought to the aquarium by a fisherman who had captured it by clubbing it over the head with a piece of wood. Although it survived for a remarkable ten years after this event, the seal remained antagonistic to humans until its last breath, bitterly resenting its captivity.

Snatched from the wild, most monk seals promptly begin to starve themselves – often to death. The pups that were brought to the Rhodes aquarium were therefore force-fed with a pair of wooden pincers, or sometimes through a syringe delivering a bizarre mixture of Ovaltine and sugar. None of the seals ever accepted their captivity and all but one died within a few weeks. They would tremble violently in their concrete habitat and were often heard to cry out in anguish (William Johnson in: The Monk Seal Conspiracy).

Habitat Mediterranean monk seals mostly seek refuge in inaccessible caves, often along remote, cliff-bound coasts. Such caves may have underwater entrances, not visible from the water line.

Known to inhabit open sandy beaches and shoreline rocks in ancient times, the occupation of such marginal habitat is believed to be a relatively recent adaptation in response to human pressures – hunting, pest eradication by fishermen, coastal urbanisation, and tourism.

Distribution At one time, the Mediterranean monk seal occupied a wide geographical range. Colonies were found throughout the Mediterranean, the Marmara and Black Seas. The species also frequented the Atlantic coast of Africa, as far south as Mauritania, Senegal and the Gambia, as well as the Atlantic islands of Cape Verde, the Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores.

In 1978, the distribution of the Mediterranean monk seal was described as follows: "The main center of population of the species is the Aegean Sea, especially its southern and eastern part, in the Dodecanese Islands of Greece and adjacent coasts of Turkey. This distribution extends in lesser numbers of animals north to the Cyclades, the Northern Sporades and the Sea of Marmara, west towards Crete, the Peloponnesus and the Ionian Sea, and east along the western part of the southern coast of Turkey. The second, lesser concentration within the Mediterranean Sea lies along the southern coasts of the western basin, from the Mediterranean coast of Morocco along the Algerian coast to Tunisia. A few animals remain at the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, the Tyrrhenian Sea and Sicily, but the species is extinct or nearly so at Corsica. A third, minor concentration exists in the Gazelle – Number 85 – January 2009

12 eastern Mediterranean in south-central Turkey, around the coasts of Cyprus, and on the Lebanese coast. The Atlantic population exists in discrete, widely separated populations at the Desertas Islands, rarely at the main island of Madeira, and in southern Spanish Sahara [Arab Democratic Republic of the Sahara]. There are a few recent records from the Azores" (Sergeant et al. 1978).

More recently, however, the species has disappeared from most of its former range, with the most severe contraction and fragmentation occurring during the 20th century.

Nations and island groups where the monk seal has been extirpated during the past century include France and Corsica, Spain and the Balearic Islands, Italy and Sicily, Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon. More recently, the species is also thought to have become extinct in the Black Sea. Despite sporadic sightings – possibly of stragglers from other regions – Monachus monachus may also be regarded as effectively extinct in Sardinia, the Adriatic coasts and islands of Croatia, and the Sea of Marmara. Reports also suggest that the monk seal may have been eradicated from Tunisia. Similarly, only a handful of individuals reportedly survive along the Mediterranean coast of Morocco.

In 1997, a severe mass mortality affected the Cap Blanc Mediterranean monk seal colony off the coast of Mauritania. The exact cause is unknown, but a viral epidemic and poisoning by toxic algae are the most likely candidates. The Cap Blanc colony was the largest population of Mediterranean monk seals (Macdonald 2001).

The Mediterranean monk seal is now restricted to a handful of small and scattered colonies in the Ionian and Aegean Seas and the southern coast of Turkey in the Mediterranean, as well as scattered populations in northwest Africa on the coasts of

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13 Western Sahara (Arab Democratic Republic of the Sahara) and Mauritania, and the Desertas Islands, Madeira. It is thought that just two of these populations are viable, in Greece and northwest Africa (Arkive, 2006).

As a result of this range contraction, the monk seal has been virtually reduced to two populations, one in the northeastern Mediterranean and the other in the northeast Atlantic, off the coast of northwest Africa. Interchange between the two populations is thought improbable given the great distances separating them.

Confusion over Palestinian stranding Debate – and lingering confusion – continues amongst scientists regarding the identity of a seal washed ashore on “Dolphinarium Beach” in Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Occupied Palestine, on 27 January 2004.

According to an announcement by Dan Kerem and Oz Goffman of IMMRAC (Israel Marine Mammal Research & Assistance Center), the decaying body was discovered partly buried on the beach. It was subsequently moved to the Maritime School in Mikhmoret for further inspection.

Kerem and Goffman reported that “the body was recognized as that of a seal, most likely a female, but was already in an advanced state of decomposition and disintegration. The caudal remains were no more than the skin of the belly, to which were attached the tail and remnants of the hind flippers. By a process of elimination, we believe that the body is that of a Mediterranean Monk seal (Monachus monachus), although the lack of the nose, vibrissae, front of the upper jaw and ilea, as well as a worn out, faded and peeling fur, have prevented us from making a definite identification.”

“As best we could judge,” they continued, “the body length (tip of snout to tip of tail) was ca. 120 cm, which if indeed a monk seal, would make the individual a few months old pup. On the one hand, this finding is exciting, considering that the last time a monk seal pup was observed in this area was in the mid 1930‟s. On the other hand, it is obvious that there are no active breeding caves anywhere near the beaching point. The decomposed state of the body, the low water temperature and the rough winter storms support the assumption that the body may have drifted a long distance.”

The authors went on to postulate that the animal – if indeed it was a monk seal – may have drifted towards Palestine from the Cilician Basin in Turkey, Cyprus or even Cyrenaica in Libya.

Following preliminary examination of the photographic evidence, other experts also voiced the opinion that the dead animal was almost certainly a monk seal. According to others, however, the seal‟s anatomical remains invited a different conclusion. Faxed drawings of the skull, compared with specimens held in the Zoological Museum in Cambridge in the UK, led Prof. Yoram Yom-Tov of Tel Aviv University to voice his opinion that the animal was not a monk but a young Caspian seal (Pusa [Phoca] caspica, Gmelin 1788).

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14 “I have no idea where it came from,” he admitted, “and can only guess that it was discarded by some zoo. However, as far as I know there were (and are) no Caspian seals in Israeli zoos, so it must have come from another country.”

Other experts have meanwhile reiterated their faith in the monk seal hypothesis.

A DNA analysis has yet to be conducted (The Monachus Guardian).

Threats The main threats arrayed against the Mediterranean monk seal include: 1- Habitat deterioration and loss by coastal development, including disturbance by tourism and pleasure boating; 2- Deliberate killing by fishermen and fish farm operators, who consider the animal a pest that damages their nets and „steals‟ their fish, particularly in depleted coastal fishing grounds; 3- Accidental entanglement in fishing gear leading to death by drowning; 4- Decreased food availability due to over-fishing pressures; 5- Stochastic events, such as disease outbreaks.

19th century seal hunt in Tunisia

The Mediterranean monk seal is particularly sensitive to human disturbance, with coastal development and tourism pressures driving the species to inhabit increasingly marginal and unsuitable habitat. In some pupping caves, pups are vulnerable to storm surges and may be washed away and drowned.

Unforeseen or stochastic events, such as disease epidemics, toxic algae or oil spills may also threaten the survival of the monk seal. In the summer of 1997, two thirds of the

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15 largest surviving population of Mediterranean monk seals was wiped out within the space of two months at Cabo Blanco (the Côte des Phoques) in the Western Sahara (Arab Democratic Republic of the Sahara). While opinions on the precise causes of this epidemic remain sharply divided, the mass die-off emphasized the precarious status of a species already regarded as critically endangered throughout its range.

Vital statistics (all figures are averages) Monachus monachus

Adult male

Adult female

Pup

Status:

Critically endangered.

Habitat:

Sea caves along remote cliff-bound coasts for resting and giving birth; originally congregated on open beaches and shoreline rocks. Feeds in coastal waters.

Length:

2.4 meters (nose to tail).

Weight:

250-300 kg (estimate only).

Colour:

Predominantly black with a white belly patch, but several variations exist.

Length:

Slightly smaller than male (2.4 m).

Weight:

250-300 kg (estimate only).

Colour:

Predominantly grayish, with several variations.

Length:

94 cm (nose to tail).

Weight:

15-20 kg.

Colour:

Soft woolly hair, black to chocolate, with distinctive white belly patch.

Conservation Conservation of the Mediterranean monk seal has been underway since the late 1970s but, given the species‟ obscurity among the general public and the forces arrayed against it, progress has generally been patchy and slow. Chronic deficiencies in funding, both from state and private sources, have compounded the problem.

In situ conservation efforts focus on the establishment of marine protected areas, nofishing zones, rescue and rehabilitation of orphaned and wounded seals, education and public awareness. Scientific research, while gaining additional insights into little understood aspects of the monk seal‟s biology and behaviour, can also play a key role in furthering in situ conservation aims.

To date, marine protected areas for the species have been established in only a fraction of the areas scientific opinion deems necessary: in the Desertas Islands of Madeira; in Gazelle – Number 85 – January 2009

16 the Northern Sporades Islands and northern Karpathos in Greece; on the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts of Turkey, and along the Côte des Phoques (Cabo Blanco) in the Western Sahara (Arab Democratic Republic of the Sahara).

Taking into consideration the feeding and breeding movements of monk seals between remnant colonies, a consensus of scientific opinion believes that a network of wellmanaged and guarded reserves are essential for the survival of the species.

Although proposed on a number of occasions, ex situ conservation measures – such as captive breeding and translocation – have been abandoned in the face of concerted opposition from the international monk seal scientific and conservation communities. So sensitive is the monk seal to human disturbance that ex situ schemes of this kind are viewed in some quarters as an additional threat to the species. Monachus monachus has never been known to breed successfully in captivity. Scientists also question whether there is any single colony large enough to withstand the removal of donor animals for the purposes of translocation or captive breeding without jeopardising its own viability.

References and Internet Websites: Androukaki, E.; S. Adamantopoulou, P. Dendrinos, E. Tounta and S. Kotomatas (1999).

Causes of Mortality in the Mediterranean Monk Seal (Monachus monachus) in Greece.

Contributions to the Zoology & Ecology of the Eastern Mediterranean Region 1 (1999): 405-411.

Animal Info - Mediterranean Monk Seal. http://www.animalinfo.org/species/carnivor/monamona.htm Arkive (2006).http://www.arkive.org/ Bininda-Emonds, Olaf R.P. and A.P. Russell (1996). A morphological perspective on the phylogenetic relationships of the extant phocid seals (Mammalia: Carnivora: Phocidae).

In: Bonner zoologische Monographien 1996, Bd. 4.

Bonner, Nigel (1994). Seals and Sea Lions of the World. Facts on File, 1994. ISBN 0816029555.

Güçlüsoy, Harun and Yalçın Savaş (2003). Status of the Mediterranean Monk Seal, Monachus monachus, in the Foça Pilot Monk Seal Conservation Area, Turkey. Zoology in the Middle East 28, 2003: 5-16. http://www.kasparek-verlag.de/ZME-Abstracts28.htm Israëls, L.D.E. (1992). Thirty years of Mediterranean monk seal protection – a review.

Mededelingen 28: 1-65.

Johnson, William M. (2005). In echoes of the past, the sound of the present. The Monachus Guardian 8(1): May 2005. http://www.iridescentpublishing.com/ms_ant/ms_ant_auth.htm Johnson, W.M. (2004). Monk seals in post-classical history. The role of the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) in European history and culture, from the fall of Rome to the 20th century. Mededelingen 39. Netherlands Commission for International Nature Protection, Leiden: 1-91, 31 figs.

Johnson, William M. The Monk Seal Conspiracy. 3. Oracle of a Dying Sea. http://www.iridescent-publishing.com/msc/msc03.htm

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17 Johnson, William M. (Ed.) (1998-2006). The Monachus Guardian. Current and back issues of the Internal journal dedicated to monk seals and their threatened habitats. http://www.monachus-guardian.org/ Johnson, William M.; Alexandros A. Karamanlidis, Panagiotis Dendrinos, Pablo Fernández de Larrinoa, Manel Gazo, Luis Mariano González, Harun Güçlüsoy, Rosa Pires, Matthias Schnellmann. Mediterranean Monk Seal (Monachus monachus). http://www.monachus-guardian.org/factfiles/medit01.htm Johnson, William M.; Alexandros A. Karamanlidis, Panagiotis Dendrinos, Pablo Fernández de Larrinoa, Manel Gazo, Luis Mariano González, Harun Güçlüsoy, Rosa Pires, Matthias Schnellmann. Mediterranean Monk Seal (Monachus monachus). Israel Marine Mammal Research & Assistance Center. http://immrac.haifa.ac.il/english/introduction.html Johnson, W.M. and D.M. Lavigne (1998). The Mediterranean Monk Seal. Conservation Guidelines. Multilingual Edition. International Marine Mammal Association Inc., Guelph, Ontario, Canada: 1-152.

Johnson, W.M. and D.M. Lavigne (1999). Monk seals in antiquity. The Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) in ancient history and literature. Mededelingen 35: 1101. The Netherlands Commission for International Nature Protection, Leiden: 1- 101, 17 figs.

Johnson, William M. and David M. Lavigne (1999). Mass tourism and the Mediterranean monk seal. The role of mass tourism in the decline and possible future extinction of Europe's most endangered marine mammal, Monachus monachus, The Monachus Guardian 2 (2): 1999. http://www.monachusguardian.org/mguard04/04scien11.htm Kappeler, Markus (1986). Mittelmeer-Mönchsrobbe Monachus monachus. Groth AG (erschienen in der WWF Conservation Stamp Collection, Groth AG, Unterägeri). http://www.markuskappeler.ch/tex/texs/moenchsrobbe2.html Kenyon, K. W. (1981). Monk seals - Monachus. In: S.H. Ridgway & R. Harrison: Handbook of marine mammals. Vol. 2: Seals Academic Press London 1981.

Khalaf, Norman Ali Bassam (1980). Tabie‟t Al-Talawon fi Al-Haywanat (The Colouration of Animals). Al-Biology Bulletin. Number 1. January 1980, Safar 1401.

Biological Society, Kuwait University, State of Kuwait. pp. 4-5. (in Arabic).

Khalaf, Norman (1982). A‟maar Al-Haywanat (Animal Ages). Al-Biology Bulletin.

Number 18, Third Year, First Semester, Saturday 6.11.1982. Biological Society, Kuwait University, State of Kuwait. pp. 7. (in Arabic).

Khalaf, Norman Ali Bassam (1987). Blue Whales (Balaenoptera musculus) from the State of Kuwait, Arabian Gulf. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. RilchingenHanweiler, Federal Republic of Germany. Number 14, Fifth Year, Shawal 1407 AH, June 1987 AD. pp. 1-14.

Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam (1992). The Minke Whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) in the Zoologisches Forschungsinstitut und Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn, Germany. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Bonn-Bad Godesberg, Federal Republic of Germany. Number 26, Tenth Year, January 1992. pp. 1-3.

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18 Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam (1992). An Introduction to the Animal Life in Palestine. Gazelle. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Bonn-Bad Godesberg, Federal Republic of Germany. Number 30, Tenth Year, October 1992. pp. 1-7. (in Arabic).

Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam (1994). An Introduction to the Animal Life in Palestine. Shqae‟q Al-Nouma‟n (Anemone coronaria). A Quarterly Magazine Issued by the Program EAI (Education for Awareness and for Involvement). Environmental Education / Children for Nature Protection. In Cooperation with Dept. of General and Higher Education. P.L.O., Palestine. Number 4. Huzairan (June) 1994. pp. 16-21. (in Arabic).

Khalaf, Norman Ali Bassam (Gründer) (seit Juni 2001). Wale und Delphine Club Yahoo Group. http://de.groups.yahoo.com/group/Waleunddelphine/ Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali (2004). Gazelle: Das Palästinensische Biologische Bulletin. Eine Wissenschaftliche Reise in Palästina, Arabien und Europa zwischen 1983 – 2004. / Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. A Scientific Journey in Palestine, Arabia and Europe between 1983 – 2004. Erste Auflage (First Edition), Juli 2004: 452 Seiten. Zweite erweiterte Auflage, August 2004: 460 Seiten. Norman Ali Khalaf, BonnBad Godesberg, Germany. www.geocities.com/jaffacity/Gazelle_Bulletin.html Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali (2004). Die Wal Sonderausstellung "Delphinidae Delphionidae" und "Kleinwale in Nord- und Ostsee" im Museum Alexander Koenig in Bonn, Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. BonnBad Godesberg, Federal Republic of Germany. Number 35, Twenty-second Year, September 2004. pp. 1.

Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali (2004). Der Schweinswal (Phocoena phocoena) in der Nord- und Ostsee...The Harbour Porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) in the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Bonn-Bad Godesberg, Federal Republic of Germany. Number 36, Twenty-second Year, October 2004. pp. 1-7.

Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali (2005). Thema des Tages (5. Januar 2005): In See gespuelter Indopazifischer Buckeldelfin (Sousa chinensis) in Thailand nach Tagen gerettet. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

Number 37, Twenty-third Year, January 2005. pp. 1-3.

Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali (2005). The Story of Prophet Yunus (Jonah) and the Whale. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

Number 38, Twenty-third Year, February 2005. pp. 9-13.

Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali (2005). Jaffa (Yaffa): The History of an Old Palestinian Arab City on the Mediterranean Sea. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin.

Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Number 39, Twenty-third Year, March 2005. pp. 7-8.

Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali (2005). The Andromeda Sea Monster of Jaffa. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Number 39, Twentythird Year, March 2005. pp. 8.

Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali (2005). Aquatica Arabica. An Aquatic Scientific Journey in Palestine, Arabia and Europe between 1980 - 2005. / Aquatica Arabica. Eine Aquatische Wissenschaftliche Reise in Palaestina, Arabien und Europa zwischen 1980 2005. Erste Auflage, August 2005: 376 Seiten. Publisher: Norman Ali Khalaf, Rilchingen-Hanweiler, Bundesrepublik Deutschland & Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. www.geocities.com/jaffacity/Aquatica_Arabica.html

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19 Khalaf, Norman Ali (2005, 2006). Chapter 3: Geography, Flora and Fauna. Pages 33-39. in: Palestine: A Guide. By Mariam Shahin, Photography by George Azar. Northampton, Massachusetts: Interlink Publishing Group, 2005, 2006. xi + 471 pages. Appendices to page 500.

Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali (2006). A Bryde‟s Whale (Balaenoptera edeni) Stranding on Al Mamzar Beach, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 50. February 2006. pp. 1-5. http://www.geocities.com/jaffacity/Brydes_Mamzar.html Khalaf-von Jaffa, Norman Ali (2006). Mammalia Arabica. Eine Zoologische Reise in Palästina, Arabien und Europa zwischen 1980-2006. / Mammalia Arabica. A Zoological Journey in Palestine, Arabia and Europe between 1980-2006. Erste Auflage, Juli 2006, 484 pp. Publisher: Norman Ali Khalaf, Rilchingen-Hanweiler, Deutschland & Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. www.geocities.com/jaffacity/Mammalia_Arabica.html Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2007). Haywanat Filistin (Fauna of Palestine). In: Wikipedia-Arabic, Al-Mawsu'a Al-Hurra (The Free Encyclopedia). Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 69, September 2007, Sha‟ban 1428 AH. pp. 1-4. (Article in Arabic). http://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AD%D9%8A%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%A7 %D8%AA_%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86 Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Dr. Sc. Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2008). Carnivora Arabica. A Zoological Journey in Palestine, Arabia and Europe between 2005-2008. / Carnivora Arabica. Eine Zoologische Reise in Palaestina, Arabien und Europa zwischen 2005-2008. First Edition, September 2008, Ramadan 1429 AH. 396 pps. Publisher: Dr. Norman Ali Khalaf, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates & Rilchingen-Hanweiler, Federal Republic of Germany. ISBN 978-9948-03-459-9. (In Arabic, English and German). http://www.geocities.com/jaffacity/Carnivora_Arabica.html Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Dr. Sc. Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2008). Cetacea Palaestina: The Whales and Dolphins in Palestinian Waters. Cetacean Species Guide for Palestine. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin. Number 83, November 2008, Thu Al-Qi‟ada 1429 AH. pp. 1-14. Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. http://www.geocities.com/jaffacity/Cetacea_Palaestina.html Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Dr. Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2008). Amphibia Palaestina: The Amphibians of Palestine. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin.

Number 84, December 2008, Thu Al-Hijja 1429 AH. pp. 1-18. Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. www.geocities.com/jaffacity/Amphibia_Palaestina.html Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa, Dr. Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher (2009). The Mediterranean Monk Seal (Monachus monachus, Hermann 1779) in Palestinian, Mediterranean and Atlantic Waters. Gazelle: The Palestinian Biological Bulletin.

Number 85, January 2009, Muharram 1430 AH. pp. 1-20. Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. www.geocities.com/jaffacity/Mediterranean_Monk_Seal.html Khalaf-von Jaffa, Dr. Norman Ali Bassam (2009). Fauna Palaestina. A Zoological Journey in Palestine, Arabia and Europe between 1983-2009 / Fauna Palaestina. Eine Zoologische Reise in Palästina, Arabien und Europa zwischen 1983-2009. ISBN 9789948-03-865-8 (Book in preparation, Summer 2009). www.geocities.com/jaffacity/Fauna_Palaestina.html King, J.E. (1956). The Monk Seals (Genus Monachus). Bulletin of the British Museum

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