Hellenic Society for the Study and Protection of the Monk Seal (MOm)

MOm (Εταιρεία Μελέτης και Προστασίας της Μεσογειακής Φώκιας), the Hellenic Society for the Study and Protection of the Monk Seal, has been a cornerstone of Mediterranean monk seal conservation in Greece for over 35 years. Founded in 1988, MOm established the Mediterranean Monk Seal Rehabilitation and Reintroduction Center on the island of Alonissos in 1990, the first and only facility of its kind in the Mediterranean Sea.

MOm’s work spans rescue and rehabilitation, scientific research, and public education. Orphaned and injured pups are cared for either at the Alonissos center or, more recently, at the Attica Zoological Park in Athens, where they receive medical treatment and nurturing until they’re ready to return to the wild.

Their research team has been instrumental in discovering and protecting breeding caves and seal colonies, including the most important monk seal colony in the eastern Mediterranean at Gyaros Island. MOm also pioneered the use of remote monitoring systems to study seal behavior in inaccessible sea caves and created the Mediterranean Monk Seal Sample Bank, a unique biological archive with over 2,000 tissue samples.

Thanks to MOm’s tireless efforts, Greece now hosts the largest population of Mediterranean monk seals in the world. In 2025, their success came full circle when a previously rescued and rehabilitated female was documented in the wild with a pup of her own, a powerful testament to the impact of their work.