Akdeniz Foku (Monk Seal)

The story behind the name

Akdeniz Foku (Monk Seal)

Until the early 20th century, Mediterranean monk seals lived freely, numbering in the thousands, along every Mediterranean coast and the Eastern Atlantic shore from Portugal down to Senegal. Overhunting, habitat loss and the degradation of marine ecosystems have since shrunk their range and their numbers. Today they survive only in Greece, Türkiye, Morocco, Mauritania and the Madeira Islands, with an estimated total population of around 700. Off Mauritania they still form a true colony, while in the Mediterranean human pressure has forced most seals into a solitary life.

The species lives in two separate regions:

1. The Atlantic population (Western Sahara, the coast of Mauritania and Portugal's Madeira Islands)
2. The Mediterranean population (Greece and Türkiye)

Habitat

Monk seals choose quiet, remote rocky shores free of buildings and hard for people to reach, ideally with sea caves and crevices where they can breed and shelter. Any damage to these places affects them directly.

Why they are disappearing

1. Habitat loss as coastlines are covered in concrete
2. Illegal and excessive fishing that depletes their food
3. Deliberate killing, and pups drowning in fishing nets
4. Tourist dives into sea caves that drive the shy seals away
5. Marine pollution

Cem Orkun Kıraç / SAD-AFAG