Real-time News: Three New Mediterranean Seal Members Added to Cyprus Population Last Year

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The Ministry of Agriculture announced on Friday that three Mediterranean seals (monachus monachus) were added last year, increasing the seal population in Cyprus to 19.

The Department of Health said it was ‘a very important event for our island, as it is the first birth in decades.’

The three newborn seals were born in Limassol and Paphos (Akamas region).

Agriculture Minister Costas Kadis said: ‘Although Cyprus has only a few Mediterranean seals, we must take all necessary measures to maintain and increase its population.’

He said: ‘The three newborn babies belong to the endangered species, of which there are only 600 left worldwide, which is a hopeful and exciting event for Cyprus.’

According to the department, the seals will spend their first few months in sea caves, and after three to four months, when lactation ends, the seals will become more independent and able to forage on their own.

Since the 1960s, the species has become increasingly rare, and there was no evidence that they were breeding on the island. However, according to the department, since 2011, the seal population has been slowly and steadily recovering.

Evidence of seals reproducing on the island appeared in 2011, and since 2015, the frequency of their population breeding has increased.

As Cyprus, the ‘garden of Europe,’ has always considered environmental protection to be an important task, and the quality of the sea water and the clean beaches are important criteria for awarding blue flag beaches. Cyprus, which has the most blue flag beaches per capita in Europe, also reflects the quality of the environment on the island.

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