Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T13:22:09.106Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Circumstantial evidence for the presence of monk seals in the West Indies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2009

I. L. Boyd  and
M. P. Stanfield
I. L. Boyd
Affiliation:
Seamark Trust, 165 Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 7NA, UK.
M. P. Stanfield*
Affiliation:
Seamark Trust, 165 Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 7NA, UK.
*
British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK. e-mail: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Based on interviews with 93 fishermen in northern Haiti and Jamaica during 1997 an assessment was made of the likelihood that monk seals survive in this region of the West Indies. Fishermen were asked to select marine species known to them from randomly arranged pictures: 22.6 per cent (n = 21) selected monk seals. This number was significantly (P < 0.001) greater than the number who selected control species (walrus, harbour seal, and sea-lion) that they were unlikely to have observed. However, it was not significantly different (n = 19, P > 0.1) from the number who selected manatees, which are known to occur in the region in small numbers. More than 95 per cent of respondents also identified species that are known to occur commonly in the region. Further questioning of the 21 respondents who selected monk seals suggested that 16 (78 per cent) of them had seen at least one in the past 1–2 years. Those fishermen that were able to provide further descriptions gave information about size and colour that was consistent with many of these seals being monk seals. It is possible that the Caribbean monk seal is not extinct.

Type
Research Article
Information
Oryx , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , October 1998 , pp. 310 - 316
Copyright
Copyright © Fauna and Flora International 1998

References

IUCN. 1996. 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.Google Scholar
Kenyon, K.W. 1977. Caribbean monk seal extinct. Journal of Mammalogy, 58, 97–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, J.E. 1956. The monk seal (Genus Monachus). Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History, 3, 201–256.Google Scholar
LeBoeuf, B.J., Kenyon, K.W. and Villa-Ramirez, B. 1986. The Caribbean monk seal is extinct. Marine Mammal Science, 2, 70–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nichols, G., Campbell, D. and Sargent, D. 1980. Expedition of R/V Regina Maris to search for Caribbean monk seals in the southeast Bahama Islands, April 13–26, 1980. Unpublished Report to World Wildlife Fund.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reijnders, P., Brasseur, S., Van der Toorn, J., Van der Wolf, P., Boyd, I., Harwood, J., Lavigne, D. and Lowry, L. 1993. Seals, Fur Seals, Sea Lions, and Walrus: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland.Google Scholar
Rathbun, G.B., Woods, C.A. and Ottenwalder, J.A. 1985. The manatee in Haiti. Oryx, 19, 234–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rice, D.W. 1973. Caribbean monk seal (Monachus tropicalis). Proceedings of a working meeting of seal specialists on threatened and depleted seals of the World. International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Gland, Switzerland.Google Scholar
Solow, A.R. 1993. Inferring extinction from sighting data. Ecology, 74, 962–964.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Timm, R.M., Salazar, R.M. and Peterson, A.T. 1997. Historical distribution of the extinct tropical seal, Monachus tropicalis (Carnivora: Phocidae). Conservation Biology, 11, 549–551.Google Scholar
Waller, G. 1996. Sealife. A Complete Guide to the Marine Environment. Pica Press, Robertsbridge, East Sussex.Google Scholar
Woods, C.A. and Hermanson, J.W. 1987. An investigation of possible sightings of Caribbean monk seals, (Monachus tropicalis), along the north coast of Haiti. Report to US Marine Mammal Commission, contract number MM3309519–2, 10pp.Google Scholar