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monk seals in Turkey

The biggest population in the world exists in the Aegean Sea. Responsibilities of Greece and Turkey are huge as well as Portugal and Mauritania for the continued survival of the species in the world.

Turkey plays an important role for the protection of monk sealsMonachus monachusas world heritage.

It is estimated of a bit less than 100 monk seals while there are 32 to 42 monk seals individually identified through the field studies by different researchers in Turkey. Considering the world population, this number refers to an important proportion.

Mediterranean monk seals show interrupted distribution ranges along Turkish coasts instead of a continuous distribution range.

Monk seals in Turkey exist in the following coastal segments :

1. In the Sea of Marmara : Marmara Islands, Mola Islands and northern coasts of Kapıdağ Peninsula,
2. In the Aegean coasts : coast between Gelibolu Peninsula (on the Aegean side) and Behramkale as well as coast between Yeni Foça and Datça,
3. In the Mediterranean : coast between Datça and Kemer, coast between Alanya and Taşucu (Cilician coasts) as well as coast between Hatay Samandağ and Syrian border.

Breeding regularly occurs while monk seal deaths are also observed along in several parts of Turkish coasts.

Habitats

Mediterranean seals live "along the remote and untouched coasts that have no urban development, or coasts difficult to reach by man or far away from human activities, and rocky/cliff coasts preferably having coastal caves or caverns for breeding and/or resting purposes"and it is directly affected from deterioration of habitats.

On the other hand, it is not possible to state monk seals do not exist in the coasts other than above referred coastal types such as beaches or inhabited coasts in Turkey. It is known that Mediterranean monk seals go out of the desolate, rocky beaches and for some time widens their circulation area especially for foraging and also it is known that they drop around sandy or pebble beaches or an estuary of a river.

Yet, the primary habitat of Mediterranean monk seal is remote and untouched coasts. As they are large marine mammals, they don’t survive in narrow habitats. This species can only breed safely in the case of existence of a coastal segment in optimum sizes.

Reasons for its extinction

You have to wait for months enable to see Mediterranean monk seals nowadays; but in the 1950’s they were seen even in the Strait of Istanbul and where they were breeding. It is a very tragic event when considered that in the life span of a human, the Mediterranean monk seals are about to be extinct. In the world, the predator of the other seal species are marine animals for example, killer whales, leopard seals, sharks, polar bears and jackals.

Well, who is the enemy of the Mediterranean monk seal living in our seas? What a pity that the reasons for the extinction are not the natural factors. The only enemy of the Mediterranean monk seal is the human being. The human’s greed acting against nature makes Mediterranean monk seal and valuable coasts become diminishing or even extinct. This type of human behaviour occurs as a result of selfish attitude of human being as his natural characteristics.

When we say human, we mean that greed and ambition is hidden in human activities related with money; spreading along pristine coasts, construction of new roads that facilitate coastal developments, approval of tourism projects in natural bays, marine pollution, deliberate killing of seals (in the past in the form of hunting for their skin and fat), illegal fishing especially by means of trata, purse seiners and trawlers are among the destructive nature of human being. Unfortunately, monitoring of these illegal or unplanned activities are not supervised properly in most cases.

The extinction of the Mediterranean monk seal doesn’t take root from one problem. The five factors play role for the extinction of this rare species along Turkish coasts.

How do these factors contribute the extinction process ?

1. Deterioration of Coastal Habitats :

The most important reason for the decrease in the number of Mediterranean monk seal or its extinction is the deterioration of coastal habitats. The habitats of the monk seals are untouched and remote coasts that still keep their natural form. In Turkey, some of such pristine areas have been gradually declining. As the roads are opened along such coasts and construction of the secondary houses or touristic development destroy the natural characteristics and pecualirity of coasts, such remote coastal areas are left by monk seals.

Moreover; this negative factor not only affects the Mediterranean monk seal but also the archaeological sites that have a history of thousands years belonging to ancient Ions, Phrigs, Lycians and Carias along Anatolian coasts. Besides, this factor causes the natural landscape to be deformed, devastates the fertile agricultural areas and corrupts historical /cultural values.

Mediterranean monk seals live in the desolate coastal areas where there are no human activities, which are generally rocky and demonstrate wavy geo-morphologies and are mainly state-owned lands.

However, state-owned lands are sold or rented for development or tourism purposes thus there is nearly no room left for wild life including endangered fish, sea birds, sea turtles or monk seals. Besides, it is thought provoking to let the state-owned coastal lands, that are the common heritage of 72.000.000 people in the country, be housed & developed through an unplanned construction & development process, sacrifying also valuable olive and orange yards and other agricultural fields on which hundreds thousands of local people are dependent.

2. Overfishing and / or illegeal fishing:

Marine products consist of foods of the seals. The fish stock has been decreasing largely because of illegal and/or over fishing methods ( trawlers, tratas, purse-seiners, dynamite fishing, spear fishing with scuba dive or torch). As a result of this, both seals foraging in the shallow seas and the small scale (artisanal) fishermen are affected very negatively; the seals can not have enough food which shall have direct effect on the physiology and breeding of the animals and the coastal fishermen suffer from lower incomes and their life standards drop.

Unless a solution is found for this problem, both the seals (and the other animals on top of the food web) will become extinct and people will have to buy fish for very high prices. Moreover; there will come such days that we cannot find fish and this is the devastation of the marine ecosystem.

3. Deliberate killing:

Due to the decrease in fish stock, the competition between the seals and the small fishermen- as they are hunting in the same waters- has been ascending. The small fishermen may sometime show great reactions even in case of small losses resulting from monk seals because they are suffering from poor incomes.

The artisanal fishermen dare to kill the seal when met in sea because they become of the lack of patience. Now, who is the guilty one; the fishermen who kill the seal or the seal that take fish from the fishermen’s net to survive? Both of them aren’t guilty. In fact the illegal trawlers and purse-seiners and also competent bodies that are insufficient to supervise the illegal and over fishing are the guilty ones.

4. Disturbance in monk seal caves (touristic dives, entrance to caves etc.):

The key places where monk seals survive (breed, rest or forage) are the coastal caves whose entrance is from the sea. In the recent years, seal caves have been disturbed under the tourism pressure and many caves are abandoned by the seals    because of the disturbance given by touristic diving.

Cave diving activities are organized by the diving firms especially after 1990's in Turkey. Caves are visited to show monk seals in their caves mainly with u/w entrance, hence, caves may be abandoned by seals due to disturbance. Although it is banned according to the relevant regulation; some diving firms deliberately or arrogantly guide tourists to dive into caves especially in Bodrum, Marmaris, Fethiye, Kaş and Alanya areas with lack of proper control.

5. Marine and coastal pollutions:

As a result of the marine pollution specifically the pollution in habitat of monk seals, seals gradually reduce using their habitats which may finally result in abondonement. Actually we rarely face with this problem in the country yet it is potentially dangerous. It is stated that there is also some heavy metal accumulation in Mediterranean monk seals proven by the previous scientific research.

The following can be given as the examples of the effect of pollution on the species: Gümüşlük Çavuş Island, one of the important seal habitat, an oil pollution occured in 1996. In Sinop Inceburun Cape during a field rGüçlüsoy H., C.O. Kıraç, Y. Savaş and N.O.Veryeri. 2004. "Status of the Mediterranean Monk Seal, Monachus monachus (Hermann, 1779) in the Coastal Waters of Turkey. E.U. Journal of Fisheries & Aquatic Sciences 21 (3-4): 201–210." esearch, land based pollution were observed (nylon bags, ropes etc.) and though it is rare, it was also observed that ropes or cloth pieces curl the head and neck of the seals. The oil spill happened in Çavuş Island, Bodrum SW Turkey, affected the habitat of the seals and the tightly curling of the rope around the head of the monk seal named "dişi korsan" in Foça are examples of pollution factor. However, pollution is not a priority threat as the afore mentioned problems.

What can you do to help ?

You may support the continuation of the survival of endangedered monk sealsMonachus monachusand its pristine coastal habitats in Turkey in different ways :

• Membership to SAD
• Membership to AFAG
• Adopt a monk seal
• Sponsor SAD-AFAG projects
• Donate SAD-AFAG

Please visit the SAD-AFAG website for detailed information:www.sadafag.org