Funded by Euronatur Foundation, in 2018, MOm started collaborating with local environmental organizations of Albania (PPNEA), Montenegro (CZip) and Croatia (BIOM), aiming to provide technical know-how for the monitoring of the Mediterranean monk seal. During the first semester of 2019, the teams had the opportunity to meet in Lichadonisia in Greece where they had the chance to monitor the species and dwelve into the secrets of the monitoring process by MOm's experienced scientific team. 

 

The project continued along the coasts of the Adriatic Sea, where MOm's researchers with their Croatian, Albanian and Montenegrin colleagues sailed a large portion of the coast, recording suitable refuges for the Mediterranean monk seal. One of the highlights of the project was the recording of a young monk seal in the coasts of Albania, which confirms the ability of the Greek population to spread to the Adriatic Sea coasts and recolonize its old areas of presence in the Mediterranean Sea. 

 

 

Furthermore, MOm's field team completed the second stage of the Mediterranean monk seal population monitoring in the islands of the northern Ionian Sea, by installing an automated recording system in one of the most important reproduction caves.

Using a specialized underwater microphone, MOm has started an acoustic research project in collaboration with the Neuroscience Institute of the University of Paris, the goal of which is to find out if monk seals use sounds under water to communicate with each other. 

 

The microphone has already been installed in an area of intense reproductive activity and we are eagerly waiting for the first results to come through!

 

 

 

Since 2010, MOm has been focusing on the genetic study of the Mediterranean monk seal, in order to develop effective conservation measures for the species. In 2019, MOm and EDB (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Laboratoire Evolution et Diversité Biologique, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France) initiated a new partnership/study in this field, aiming to study the demographic history of the Mediterranean monk seal in the eastern Mediterranean and develop a genetic  protocol for monitoring the reproductive potential of the species in Greece. The project is led by EDB and funded by the FONDATION PRINCE ALBERT II DE MONACO. The study is notably based on the collection and analysis of genetic samples collected during necropsies and scats found in the resting shelters of the species.

Once again for 2019, MOm, in collaboration with the Management Body of the National Marine Park of Alonissos, Northern Sporades, the Port Authority of Alonissos and the funding of the Thalassa Foundation, is coordinating the guarding of the NMPANS. Using two vessels, KIMOLOS and NEREIS and the contribution of the Park's guards, as well as other trained personnel, the 2200 sq. km. of the Park are guarded daily, enforcing all protection measures. The application of these measures over the course of many years has contributed, according to the latest scientific data, to the recovery of both fish stock and the populations of marine mammals in the area.

The monitoring of dolphin population in the National Marine Park of Alonissos continues for yet another year, with the participation of people from all over the world under the supervision of MOm's scientific team. The results of the project were recently presented in the 14th International Convention for the Ecology and Zoogeography of Greece and neighboring areas, in which many known scientists from Greece and abroad participated. According to the data presented, a rise in the population of dolphins living in the National Marine Park of Alonissos has been recorded, in constrast with other areas in the Mediterranean where a significant and worrying decrease in population numbers has been witnessed, setting the species in danger. This increase is mostly due to the protection measures in fisheries management that have been implemented in the part for the past 30 years. 

Insights from 180 years of mitochondrial variability in the endangered Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus)
 

Philippe Gaubert, Fabienne Justy, Giulia Mo, Alex Aguilar, Erdem Danyer, Asunción Borrell, Panagiotis Dendrinos (MOm), Bayram Öztürk, Roberta Improta, Arda M. Tonay, Alexandros A. Karamanlidis (MOm), 2019

This article is about the mitochondrial diversity of the species during the past 180 years through the analysis of samples, including historical ones from 1833 and 1975.

Mediterranean Monk Seal (Monachus monachus) Behavior at Sea and Interactions with Boat Traffic: Implications for the Conservation of the Species in Greece

Elena Mpougas, James J. Waggitt, Panagiotis Dendrinos, Styliani Adamantopoulou, and Alexandros A. Karamanlidis, 2019

 

This article is based on data collected from Lichadonisia, across Kammena Vourla, a unique area in Greece where monk seals do not seem to be disturbed by the presence of humans and boats, despite being an ecotourist excursion objective.