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Mediterranean Monk Seal Memorandum of Understanding

2007 memorandum between Mauritania, Morocco, Portugal, and Spain

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionOct 15, 2023
Entity authorityQ6807061 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Memorandum of Understanding concerning Conservation Measures for the Eastern Atlantic Populations of the Mediterranean Monk Seal is a multilateral environmental memorandum of understanding (MoU) and entered into effect on 18 October 2007, under the auspices of the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), also known as the Bonn Convention. It focuses on the protection of the eastern Atlantic populations of the Mediterranean monk seal. The MoU covers four range states (Mauritania, Morocco, Portugal and Spain), all of which have signed.

Development of MoU

Recalling that the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) is included in both Appendix I and II of CMS, thus highlighting the need for concerted action and international cooperation among the range states and noting the important ecological role the monk seal plays, an Article IV agreement was signed in Adeje, Tenerife, Spain on 18 October 2007, in the margins of the CMS meeting on Western African Talks on Cetaceans and their Habitats (WATCH) and came into effect immediately. The agreement is open for signature to all the Atlantic range states.

Signatories to the Mediterranean Monk Seal MoU:

Mauritania (18 October 2007)

Morocco (18 October 2007)

Portugal (18 October 2007)

Spain (18 October 2007)

In addition, the CMS Secretariat also signed the MoU (18 October 2007).

Aim of MoU

The MoU is a significant step towards improving the conservation status and the habitat of the eastern Atlantic monk seal throughout its range in cooperation with the four signatories. It aims at providing a legal and institutional framework for the implementation of the Action Plan for the Recovery of the Mediterranean Monk Seal in the Eastern Atlantic.

Species covered by MoU

The MoU covers the eastern Atlantic populations of the Mediterranean monk seal as one of the most threatened marine mammals in the world and listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List. It is estimated that only 500 specimens remain in the wild.

Editorial summary

“Mediterranean Monk Seal Memorandum of Understanding” enters the record as 2007 memorandum between Mauritania, Morocco, Portugal, and Spain. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Mediterranean, Monk and Seal can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2007—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Mediterranean, Monk and Seal.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Mediterranean Monk Seal Memorandum of Understanding” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Mediterranean, Monk and Seal provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 15, 2023. The linked authority identifier is Q6807061. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2007.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Mediterranean Monk Seal Memorandum of Understanding” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.