(only a pup when it die.)
(tangle up in fish nets.)
(above are picture of how fisherman kill mediterranean monk seals)
(i am really sorry for my late submission on 2nd journal.)
All the monk seal wants is to continue living in the ancient seas for which it was designed. But those waters are gone now. Pollutants, plastics and fishing lines ride the waves, and hominids stomp along the beaches or race across the reefs. Occasionally a pregnant monk seal does haul up onto a beach, Ironically, although tourists may lie happily for hours, broiling in the sun, when they see a monk seal doing the same thing they assume it is stranded or in trouble, and chase it back into the ocean. That simple act -- hazing it back to sea -- may kill it and its young.
Now the last few have been pushed to isolated spots in Turkey, Greece, Algeria, Sardinia and Madeira. There they nurse their young in caves inaccessible by land. In these relatively poor countries tourism takes priority over conservation. The Mediterranean Monk seal teeters on the edge of extinction.
In the early summer of 1997 the Mediterranean monk seals of the Mauritania colony were struck by a mystery disease. It is estimated that at least two-thirds of the colony of about 310 seals have been killed and there may even be as few as 70 left. Reluctance by local authorities to grant necessary permits made the treatment of the remaining seals difficult. Then an emergency rescue plan was hampered by opposition from the Mauritanian Centre for Fisheries Research. The Mauritania colony was by far the largest of the Mediterranean species, with about half the total number, so the tragedy has had a highly significant impact on its chance for survival. Post mortem analysis indicates that a toxic algal bloom was the most likely cause. Such blooms, also known as red tides, can be natural but may also be stimulated by polution.
Chee jing wen (4)
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