Protection of the Mediterranean monk seal

The Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) is one of the rarest seal species in the world and listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In the past they were hunted, today the animals suffer from the increasing pollution and fishing activities as well as habitat loss.

KYMA sea conservation & research has been involved in two projects to protect and research this seal species:

• Scientific knowledge about the distribution of the species along the North African coasts is still very scarce. Due to irregular sightings, a small population is suspected in eastern Libya. In 2020, KYMA covered the costs of cameras to investigate whether animals are resting, breeding and/or rearing their offspring in the region’s caves. This cooperation took place with the local organisation NWRES (Nature Wildlife Resources Environment Society).

• Archipelagos – environment and development is a Greek organisation dedicated to the protection of natural ecosystems on land and in the sea since 1991. Archipelagos has been carrying out a long-term project to photo-identify the population of the Mediterranean monk seal in the central Ionian Sea in Greece since 2018. From 2021 to mid-2023, the project was carried out as part of a multinational project led by the Mediterranean Section of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). We are very pleased to have supported the work of Archipelagos in 2023 and thus contributed to improved knowledge of the population size and habitat utilisation of the Mediterranean monk seal in the study area.