Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Zoology in the Middle East, cilt.43, sa.1, ss.13-20, 2008 (SCI-Expanded)
The present study examines some aspects of the interaction between critically endangered Monk Seals Monachus monachus and artisanal fisheries in the Foça Pilot Monk Seal Conservation Area, Turkey, between 1994 and 2002. One to four permanent researchers collected the data on this interaction during seal sighting data enquiries. Interviews with the fishermen provided a total of 448 seal sighting records, of which 142 were collected around the fishing gear. Loligo vulgaris taken from a lure and Conger conger were reported by fishermen for the first time as Monk Seal prey. Of the 142 encounters by Monk Seals with the fishing gear, 6 were of animals entangled by the floating rope of the nets. The establishment of permanent or temporary nofishing zones (in view of the 4-month lactation period) to prevent the entanglement of suckling pups in breeding sites is proposed as an appropriate management practice. © 2008 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.