Conservation of the Monk Seal in TR 1) project as part of the Conservation of the Monk Seal in the Eastern Mediterranean funded by MAVA has been completed under the coordination of IUCN Med Office.

The field studies have been running since 2019 October along Turkish Aegean and western Levant Sea coasts by SAD-AFAG in collaboration with CBD-Habitat. The research activities have just yielded some good preliminary results. The monk seals’ presence in the project areas were proved with the in-cave IR camera trap images collected in 2019 and 2020, without giving any disturbance to seals in the region. Foça and Karaburun Peninsula coasts in İzmir Bay and Göcek and Fethiye coasts in greater Fethiye Gulf were surveyed using different research methodologies. Foça Islands, Mordoğan Ayıbalığı zone, Karaburun coasts and Büyükada & Küçükada Islands, Yeniliman, Hamzabükü and Sarpıncık Cape zones are among the most Important Monk Seal Coastal Habitats in greater İzmir Gulf.

In COMSTR1 project, SAD-AFAG has been able to understand cave use of monk seals in detail in 6 caves; 3 in İzmir Bay and 3 in Fethiye Gulf.

The below field study images are from 3 different coastal caves within the Project areas including in-cave camera trap results from Ayıbalığı Cave in Mordoğan and North Cave in Karaburun Peninsula, Izmir Gulf.

© 2020 SAD-AFAG