Tourism is an important trade for Türkiye’s financial system. Nonetheless, the surge in guests to Antalya, a beloved coastal trip spot, is endangering the habitats of endangered Mediterranean monk seals.
The rising presence of stand-up paddleboarders and cruising ships at sea cliffs and rocky areas in Antalya, designated as wildlife-protected nesting websites for seals, has raised alarms amongst specialists.
Cem Orkun Kirac, an professional on marine animals and coastal zone administration, stated these vacationers typically enterprise into caves, disturbing the monk seals.
“They often seize pictures of feminine seals who simply delivered a pup. That is improper and forbidden in response to legal guidelines and laws,” Kirac instructed Xinhua, warning of undesirable interactions between people and the animals.
Coastal caves are important habitats for monk seals, as these animals breed and lift their younger within the dry sections of those formations, making them essential to the ecosystem, defined Kirac, a founding member of Underwater Analysis Society-Mediterranean Seal Analysis Group, a non-governmental group working for the safety of the endangered monk seal and its coastal and marine habitats.
Furthermore, speedboats of some lodges and diving college members generally come too near monk seal habitats, the place grownup females really feel very a lot disturbed contained in the caves, he added.
“Appropriate sea caves are the one locations inside the species’ habitat for copy and resting, and due to this fact play an important function for the continued survival of this uncommon marine mammal,” Kirac emphasised.
Seal monks additionally nest additional west in Türkiye, in Kekova, Marmaris, Dalaman, Cesme, and Kas, all sightseeing areas the place disturbance by vacationers of the animals has additionally been reported. Amongst these locations, Antalya stands out.
As one among Türkiye’s high vacationer sights, Antalya welcomed a document of round 16 million overseas vacationers to the area’s many vacation resorts in 2023, accounting for almost a 3rd of all vacationer arrivals.
Mehmet Gokoglu, a scholar on marine life from Antalya’s Akdeniz College College of Marine Sciences, additionally rang the alarm bell not too long ago for the safety of the seals.
“There are child seals contained in the caves who’re being fed by their moms. They could go away their infants as they really feel threatened by folks and we’d lose the child,” the scholar instructed Demiroren Information Company.
Highlighting that Mediterranean monk seals solely give delivery each different 12 months, the professor described this case as a major risk to the species.
“As these locations are uncommon nesting areas, human beings should not intervene in them,” Gokoglu stated, suggesting that sports activities must be practiced with out getting too near the cliff shores, and recommending setting a boundary with buoys to forestall encroachment into delicate zones.
The monk seals are getting ready to extinction with merely 700 animals remaining on this planet within the Mediterranean basin. And solely a couple of hundred of those seals inhabit the coasts of Türkiye, in response to the Pink Record of Threatened Species of the Worldwide Union for Conservation of Nature.
In Kirac’s view, Antalya is usually a place of “harmonious cohabitation” between people and animals who reside there by the use of accountable tourism practices.
“Folks ought to respect the fragile ecosystem and perceive its significance,” the marine conservationist identified. “Defending the monk seal is defending the Mediterranean Sea.”
