Page 9 - RAC_SPA_2014

pupping locations and caves is organised at least during the summer and breeding
season, starting in 2014. Patrolling can be done by volunteers, well-trained and
possibly local, who will be performing awareness actions in situ, as well as solicit the
intervention of law enforcers in case of need.

Objective Target 2.1.3.2. All monk seal MPAs established under Objective 2.1.2, as
well as the National Marine Park of Alonissos – Northern Sporades, are endowed with
an operant Management Body and a management plan which is adaptive,
ecosystem-based and fully implemented by 2014.

Objective Target 2.1.3.3. Management in monk seal MPAs established under
Objective 2.1.2, as well as the National Marine Park of Alonissos – Northern
Sporades, is conducted in a participatory fashion, with the full involvement of local
artisanal fishermen and local communities at large, and in cooperation with the
fisheries sectors (e.g., see GFCM 2011). All proposals and decisions aiming at
establishing or modifying conservation and protection measures must be based on
sound and indisputable scientific data and evidence. Elements of participatory
approach will include awareness campaigns as well as the experimentation/adoption
of innovative mechanisms to address opportunity costs, damage mitigation and the
generation of alternative sources of income (e.g., ecotourism).

Goal Target 2.2. Implementation of Goal Target 2.1. is enabled through appropriate
capacity building activities.

Objective 2.2.1. Training sessions are organised in areas relevant to locations listed in Goal
Target 2.1, with the support of the MSTF (see Objective Target 1.2.2.1). Training will
concentrate, at least initially, on mitigating the main threats to monk seals (deliberate killing,
habitat degradation, and accidental entanglement), and will target stakeholders identified by
the MSTF (e.g., fishermen, tourist operators, enforcement officers, judges). Training will be
developed together with the local groups, and will be followed by a constant “advice service”
or accompanying process to ensure that full advantage is taken from the effort.

Goal 3. Monk seal presence in sites where they are occasionally seen today in
“Group B” countries is permanently established, and breeding resumes.
“Group B” countries are upgraded to “Group A”.

Monk seal presence in “Group B” countries must be verified with appropriate methods so as
to define the actual species’ use of the coastal seas and identify the areas in which priority
monitoring, awareness and protection actions need to be carried out (see Objective 1.2.4).
This implies that priority areas of usage be identified thorough sighting collection campaigns,
habitat surveys in areas of hotspot sightings, and where the coastal habitat is most pristine
(which implies analysis of coastal habitat characteristics and their distribution in each nation),
followed by in situ monitoring to assess the eventual degree of habitat use by monk seals.
Sites with repeated use and with highest numbers of monk seal sightings must be evaluated
in terms of pressures and risks. Awareness activities to be carried out in each site will
depend on the type of use of the coasts by the species, the degree of the pressures