Marine Caves of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea Biodiversity, Threats and Conservation
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
MARINE CAVES OF THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN SEA BIODIVERSITY, THREATS AND CONSERVATION All rigths are reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission from the Turkish Marine Research Foundation (TUDAV). © Turkish Marine Research Foundation ISBN: 978-975-8825-45-5 Citation: Öztürk, B. (Ed.) 2019. Marine Caves of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Biodiversity, Threats and Conservation. Turkish Marine Research Foundation (TUDAV) Publication No: 53, Istanbul, Turkey. 258 pages. Cover photo: © Adnan BÜYÜK Turkish Marine Research Foundation (TUDAV) P.O. Box: 10, Beykoz, Istanbul Tel: 0 (216) 424 07 72 Fax: 0 (216) 424 07 71 E-mail: [email protected] www.tudav.org Printed: Ekaform Matbaa Reklam Ajans Org. San. Ve Tic. Ltd. Şti. Esenkent Mah.Azade Sok. No: 1 Ümraniye, İstanbul E-mail: [email protected] www.ekaform.com Certificate no: 41753 Publication place: İstanbul Publication year: 2019 ii Contents FOREWORD ....................................................................................................... v PREFACE ......................................................................................................... vii Mediterranean marine caves: a synthesis of current knowledge and the Mediterranean Action Plan for the conservation of “dark habitats” Atef Ouerghi, Vasilis Gerovasileiou, Carlo Nike Bianchi………………………1 Geomorphological properties of marine caves of eastern Mediterranean Sea (Between Enez to Yayladağı, Turkey) Topçu Ahmet Ertek…………………………………………………………….14 Development of coastal and submarine caves in the south-western part of Turkey C. Serdar Bayarı ................................................................................................. 41 Macrophytobenthos of the Turkish marine caves Ergün Taşkın, Barış Akçalı ......................................................................... 58 Macrozoobenthic invertebrates in three submarine caves of the Aegean Sea: Preliminary results Melih Ertan Çınar, Alper Evcen, Şermin Açık ................................................... 69 Diversity of cavern fishes at the Eastern Aegean Sea coasts (Turkey): Preliminary observation Murat Bilecenoğlu .............................................................................................. 84 A dream within a dream: Kakoskali Cave, a unique marine ecosystem in Cyprus (Levantine Sea) Carlos Jimenez, Katerina Achilleos, Antonis Petrou, Louis Hadjioannou, Adriano Guido, Antonietta Rosso, Vasilis Gerovasileiou, Paolo G. Albano, Davide Di Franco, Vasilis Andreou, Rana Abu Alhaija ..................................... 91 Marine caves alongside Fethiye/Turkey coasts Mehtap Çelikok ................................................................................................ 111 Mediterranean monk seal caves in the Turkish Aegean Sea and their conservation Ayhan Dede, Arda M. Tonay ........................................................................... 126 iii The Mediterranean monk seal caves in Northeastern Mediterranean Sea, current threats and their protection Meltem Ok, Ali Cemal Gücü ........................................................................... 134 Marine caves biodiversity and conservation in the Turkish part of the Mediterranean Sea: Preliminary results of East Med Cave Project Bayram Öztürk, Alper Güngür, Tancrède Barraud .......................................... 147 Rosh-Hanikra Grottoes, Israel – A refuge for the critically endangered and for opportunistic invasives Bella S. Galil, Menachem Goren.......................................................................159 Biodiversity of marine caves and cave-like formations around the Northern Aegean islands of Turkey (Gökçeada and Bozcaada) H. Barış Özalp .................................................................................................. 166 Comparison of two small marine caves located on Gökçeada Island (Northern Aegean Sea) and Büyükada Island (Marmara Sea) in terms of macrobenthic cover Bülent Topaloğlu .............................................................................................. 186 Habitat mapping of underwater Bilge Taş Cave (Wisdom Stone Cave) in the Northeastern Mediterranean Sea: Structure and biodiversity Cemal Turan, Necdet Uygur, Mahmut İğde, Servet A. Doğdu ........................ 195 Health problems in cave diving Selin Gamze Sümen, Şamil Aktaş .................................................................... 207 Risks and safety measures during cave diving activities Ibrahim Tamer Emecan, Ferhat Yalgın ............................................................ 231 The legal status of caves in Turkish legislation Süheyla Suzan Alıca………………………………………………………….243 iv FOREWORD Underwater caves are „natural cavities big enough to permit direct exploration by man‟. Dark underwater caves are lightless enclaves of the marine environment, with lighting less than 0.01% and a fairly confined space, are often reservoirs of unknown biodiversity and refuges for generally very non-resilient communities. Underwater caves are specific entities easily accessible because of their often- shallow depth and their nearness to the coast. Also, the caves, at least in their „semi-dark‟ parts, constitute landscapes of high aesthetic or archaeological value and are therefore often visited, leading to mechanical harm particularly from divers. Using destructive methods (e.g. dynamite) in coastal development work is likely to significantly affect these habitats. Underwater caves are particularly well represented in all the rocky karst or fractured coastlines and are probably very widespread at Mediterranean level. Although we do not have an exhaustive view of the situation, the Parties to Barcelona Convention adopted in 2013, the Regional Action Plan1 commonly named “Dark Habitat Action Plan” to: conserve the habitats‟ integrity, functionality (favourable state of conservation) by maintaining the main ecosystem services (e.g. carbon sink, halieutic recruitment and production, biogeochemical cycles) and their interest in terms of biodiversity (e.g. specific diversity, genetics), encourage the natural restoration of degraded habitats (reduction of human origin impacts) improve knowledge about dark populations (e.g. location, specific richness, functioning, typology). As far as the Mediterranean European states are concerned, caves are natural habitats that come under Habitat Directive on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora and appear as such as priority habitats requiring protection (Directive 92/43). To give greater efficacity to the measures envisaged for setting up the present Action Plan, the Mediterranean countries are invited to elaborate national plans for the protection of dark assemblages. Each national plan must bear in mind the specific features of the country and even the areas concerned. It must suggest appropriate legislative measures, particularly as regards impact studies for coastal development and to check the activities that can affect these 1 Action Plan for the conservation of habitats and species associated with seamounts, underwater caves and canyons, aphotic hard beds and chemo- synthetic phenomena in the Mediterranean Sea v assemblages. The national plan will be drawn up on the basis of the scientific data available and will include programmes for: (i) gathering and continuous updating of data, (ii) training and retraining for specialists, (iii) education and awareness for the public, actors and decision-makers, and (iv) the conservation of dark populations that are significant for the marine environment in the Mediterranean. These national plans must be brought to the attention of all the concerned actors and as far as is possible coordinated with other pertinent national plans (e.g. emergency plan against accidental pollution). In this context SPA/RAC is supporting the organisation of the national workshop on the marine cave habitats in turkey in line with the Dark habitat Action Plan and the Medkeyhabitats II2 project financed by MAVA foundation. Khalil ATTIA SPA/RAC Director 2 http://www.rac-spa.org/medkeyhabitats2 vi PREFACE Turkey is surrounded by four different seas as a peninsula country and contains several hundreds of caves around it. The action plan for the conservation of habitats and species associated with seamounts, underwater caves and canyons in the Turkish part of the Mediterranean Sea is quite a new issue. Because of limited data available for dark habitats which are very peculiar ecosystems and lack of experts is the main problem. Some fragmented information exists mainly about the monk seal caves in the Aegean and Mediterranean part of Turkey, but it presents far from a whole picture. Besides, Dark Habitat Action Plan was also adopted in Istanbul in 2013 during the 18th Ordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Barcelona Convention. In addition, marine caves are considered as habitats of high priority in the Mediterranean Sea, i.e. EU Habitat Directive (92/43/ EEC). Moreover, dark habitats in the eastern Mediterranean Sea are under human pressure, such as intense tourism, pollution, oil spill, ghost fishing, alien species and so on. Consequently, we organised first national workshop on dark habitats in Turkey on 13 December 2019. Turkish Marine Research Foundation is pleased to publish this book with various aspects of the dark habitats with imminent experts from various countries along the eastern Mediterranean Sea. I am also very