Middle East Technical University

Since the coasts of Iskenderun Bay mostly consist of dunes, it is not a suitable area for the Mediterranean Monk Seal, which selects rocky areas suitable for formation of caves as its natural habitat. In spite of this fact, monk seals have been observed in the bay, especially its northern sections where BTC terminal is planned to be built.

The number of sea creatures in Iskenderun Bay has substantially decreased as a result of excessive and illegal fishing. Nevertheless, fishing has been restricted around the industrial facilities built on coastal areas and their ports and terminals. Fishing surveys carried out in Iskenderun Bay have shown that density of fish is higher near industrial facilities, indicating that they serve as a marine conservation area for fish species coming under pressure in Iskenderun Bay.

Although there is no habitat suitable for the monk seal inside Iskenderun Bay, the geographical characteristics of the area between the outlet of the Bay and the Syrian border is a very suitable home for the monk seal. In fact, there are data showing that a big seal monk colony lives in that area. It is known that there has been considerable decrease in the stocks in that area, which is one of the regions suffering from overfishing. It is believed that depletion of food sources force monk seals to migrate to the areas where the industrial facilities are located and which are rich in food sources temporarily.

There are around 300 to 500 monk seals in the world and Turkish coasts are among their remaining habitats. The most crowded settled colony (25 individuals) in Turkey lives on Mersin coasts neighboring Iskenderun Bay. Monk seals have also been observed along Cyprus' coastal line, which indicates that this island is also occasionally used by seal monks. Turkish-Syrian border is another area where monk seals are observed. Its geographical characteristics and absence of settlements as it is a border area make it a suitable habitat for monk seals. It is not yet known whether there are colonies settled in each of those areas or seal monks migrate between those areas, which are close to each other. Those data will be made available after completion of the project and used for preparation of a comprehensive action plan for protection of the Mediterranean Monk Seal in east Mediterranean

The Project will be carried out by Middle East Technical University Institute of Marine Sciences, which was founded in 1975 in order to carry out inter-discipline fundamental and applied graduate studies and researches. It gathers physical, chemical, biological and geological data related to identification, conservation and optimum exploitation of natural mineral and live resources in the seas surrounding Turkey and carries out researches in order to describe dynamic and ecological events. Some of the studies undertaken by the Institute, which is located by Mersin-Silifke highway, 45 km west of Mersin and 10 km west of Erdemli, are as follows:

The primary focus of the Project is the Mediterranean Monk Seal and the rocky littoral region within the boundaries of the habitat of this species.

The coastline in question will be surveyed in search of suitable monk seal habitat. The seal habitats determined earlier by the METU-IMS research team will be the core of the investigation. Based on interviews, scientific literature and survey results the factors threatening the fate of the seals will be compiled. Target groups to be included in the future education and public awareness activities will be determined and recommendations for future conservation activities will be provided. Those activities are as follows:

Data to be collected as a result of the surveys will be analyzed and detailed information about the Mediterranean Monk Seal, which is known to exist in Iskenderun Bay but whose conservation status has remained unclear since the early 1990s, will be obtained. In the light of those information, whether a resident monk seal colony capable of breeding and needs to be protected actually lives in the area. If such a colony is found, present and potential threats to the survival of this species will be identified and a protection action plan, which takes the ecological and socioeconomic characteristics of the region into account, will be drawn up in order to protect Mediterranean monk seals living in Iskenderun Bay.