Mediterranean Monk Seals—Will They Survive?

BY AWAKE! WRITER IN GREECE

HOMER, in his epic work the Odyssey, depicted them as basking on the sunny beaches of Greece. A city of ancient Asia Minor once minted coins bearing their image. The waters of the Mediterranean and Black seas used to teem with them. Today, however, it is unlikely that you will see one of these timid creatures—the Mediterranean monk seal.

As were most other fur-bearing sea mammals, the Mediterranean monk seal was hunted extensively throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Thousands were slaughtered for their fur, oil, and meat.

Now the damage inflicted is all too obvious. It is estimated that only between 379 and 530 Mediterranean monk seals remain. They may be just one step away from extinction. However, it must be said that population estimates are “an extraordinarily inexact science,” as the newsletter Monachus Guardian reports.

Is it really too late to help? What efforts are being made to protect the monk seals?

An Uphill Battle

The monk seal is perhaps called such because the distinctive color of its coat is similar to the habit of some religious orders. It lives mainly among the hard-to-reach cliffs and sea caves of the Northern Sporades islands in the Aegean Sea. Smaller groups can be found along the shores of northwest Africa and Portugal’s Desertas islands. Reaching up to ten feet [3 m] in length and weighing close to 600 pounds [275 kg], the monk seal is one of the world’s largest species of seal.

Its distinctive features include a bulb-shaped head covered with silvery fur, jet-black eyes, a snout with large nostrils, tiny slits for ears, thick droopy whiskers, and many pudgy chins. The body has short black or chocolate-brown hair with lighter colors on the underside. Newborn seal pups, on the other hand, have long dark hair on their back and a splash of white on their belly.

The monk seal’s struggle for survival is hampered by its low reproductive rate. Females give birth to no more than one pup a year. To make matters worse, not all mature females produce offspring every year.

But low birth rates do not tell the whole story. Dr. Dennis Thoney, general curator of the New York Aquarium for Wildlife Conservation, says: “Even though Mediterranean monk seals have a slow reproductive rate, the harbor seal is doing very well with the same  reproductive rate. So there are certainly other factors that are causing their demise.”

Under Siege

Imagine the devastation that would result if a fire swept through your home. All your possessions—furniture, clothing, personal treasures, and other mementos—would be lost. Your life would be drastically changed. That is essentially what has happened to the Mediterranean monk seal’s home. Pollution, tourism, industry, and other human activities have led to the destruction of much of the seal’s natural habitat.

Moreover, the monk seal’s food supply has been greatly diminished by overfishing. Zoologist Dr. Suzanne Kennedy-Stoskopf says: “When prey items for seals are down, that means they have to expend more energy to feed themselves.” So not only have monk seals suffered a serious loss to their habitat—their home—but they have also had to struggle just to feed themselves!

Another consequence of overfishing is that seals occasionally become entangled in fishing nets and drown. More often, though, seals are killed outright by fishermen. Why? Because seals have learned how to rob food from fishing nets, damaging them in the process. Thus, man is pitted against beast in competition for a dwindling supply of fish. This lopsided battle has driven monk seals close to extinction.

Since monk seals are near the top of the food chain, some scientists suggest that this sea mammal is an “indicator species.” This means that if they aren’t doing well, it’s a good indicator that the rest of the food chain isn’t doing well either. If this proves to be so, the situation does not bode well for the preservation of the Mediterranean’s ecosystem, for the monk seal is Europe’s most endangered species.

Will They Survive?

Ironically, humans are the Mediterranean monk seal’s greatest threat, and at the same time, they are their greatest supporters. Private and governmental agencies have been created to protect the seals. Refuge areas have been set aside for them. Numerous field studies have been conducted to learn how to help these magnificent animals.

In 1988 the Hellenic Society for the Study and Protection of the Mediterranean Monk Seal (MOm) was formed. Researchers for MOm regularly visit monk seal habitats in order to monitor their numbers and collect other information to be used to protect them.

Using speedboats, a guarding team patrols protected areas. The team also provides  information and instruction for visitors and fishermen traveling to Greece’s National Marine Park on Alónnisos, in the Northern Sporades islands. When sick or injured seals are found, the team provides any needed veterinary care as well as transportation to the MOm rehabilitation unit.

The Seal Treatment and Rehabilitation Center can accommodate orphaned, sick, or injured pups. These are treated and cared for until they are able to survive on their own. So far, the results are promising. After years of rapid decline, the population of monk seals in the Northern Sporades is showing the first signs of recovery.

Will these efforts continue to succeed? Time will tell. It is clear, however, that much more work needs to be done if this threatened species is to survive. Dr. David Wildt of the Smithsonian Institution told Awake!: “Marine life, in general, is not in great shape. The problem is that we really don’t know enough about what’s out there, and we certainly don’t know how to protect it yet.”

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Cousins in Peril

Monk seals can also be found in other oceans around the world, but these seals too are endangered. National Geographic magazine says that the Caribbean, or West Indian, monk seal was “the first seal spotted by Columbus in the New World. Shore loving and exploitable, monk seals soon were slaughtered in droves. . . . The last recorded Caribbean monk seal was seen in 1952.”

The French Frigate Shoals, in the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge, may be the last haven for the Hawaiian, or Laysan, monk seals. However, the approximately 1,300 surviving seals are “vexed by problems,” despite diligent efforts to protect them.

Since the spring of 1997, about three quarters of the 270 Mediterranean monk seals living on West Africa’s Mauritanian coast have been wiped out by an epidemic. According to a report in Science News, most of the seals examined were carrying “a dolphin morbillivirus, a virus similar to the one that causes distemper in dogs.”

[Pictures on page 16]

Monk seals have many unique features, such as a bulb-shaped head and large nostrils

Agencies have been created to protect the seals

[Credit Line]

Panos Dendrinos/HSSPMS

[Pictures on page 17]

After years of rapid decline, the population of monk seals in the Northern Sporades is showing the first signs of recovery

[Credit Lines]

P. Dendrinos/MOm

D. Kanellos/MOm

[Picture on page 17]

Hawaiian monk seal

[Picture Credit Line on page 15]

Panos Dendrinos/HSSPMS