The guardians of Syrna – before the marine park

Syrna is not an island you can just go to. It lies practically alone in the north Karpathian Sea, southeast of Astypalaia, with just five tiny islets to keep it company: Mikros and Megalos Adelfos (Small and Big Brother), Mesonisi, Plakida and Stefania. Even a sturdy boat needs clement weather to reach its shores. 

Yet this small, isolated island, treeless and bereft of all infrastructure save a mole and a few huts cobbled together by shepherds for their goats, is an Eden for the many scientists who continue to visit it to this day, braving the primitive conditions. The reason for their interest is not obvious to the naked eye: This 7.9-square kilometer isle is a paradise of biodiversity, precisely because of its isolation. And this abundance of nature has now put Syrna on the geopolitical map.

Greece’s decision to create two protected marine parks, one of which comprises Syrna and the rocks surrounding it comprise one of two marine parks Greece is planning to create in the Aegean and Ionian seas. The plan met with reactions from Turkey, which saw the move as a claim on the southeastern Aegean island, which, according to Ankara, is of “undetermined sovereignty.” Syrna, however, is inducted into the European network of nature protection areas, or Natura 2000, which is why Greek scientists have been conducting missions there for decades.

‘What we saw was islands with 100% Aegean endemism, meaning that they hosted species that are found exclusively in the Aegean’

One team of lucky scientists associated with the University of Crete actually visited the island just a few days ago. It was made up of biologist and professor emeritus Moisis Mylonas, researcher Katerina Vardinoyannis, PhD candidates Giannis Bolanakis and Nefeli Kotitsa, and postgraduate student Panos Kontos. They were also joined by Kostas Triantis, a biologist specializing in island economy and the chief executive of the Natural Environment & Climate Change Agency (NECCA), which is responsible for protected areas.

Having studied Greece’s uninhabited islands and islets more extensively than anyone else, with multiple successive visits over the course of four decades, Mylonas is a pre-eminent authority on the subject. Kathimerini spoke with him on Syrna, in the shade of a water tank for the island’s goats.

“Wanting to demonstrate how important these small islands are because of their isolation, we convinced the Hellenic Navy back in the late 1980s to give us a boat so we could visit about a dozen of them. What we saw was islands with 100% Aegean endemism, meaning that they hosted species that are found exclusively in the Aegean. The navy’s help was so instrumental that we named a new species of snail we discovered – and which exists only on the islet of Zaforas – Zonites nautarum, in its honor,” explains Mylonas.

After that first expedition, Mylonas’ team of scientists set out to find funding so their research could continue. “No one was interested. Until the A.G. Leventis Foundation came along and bankrolled the first big mission with scientists from different fields, such as geologists, botanists and zoologists. So, between 1989 and 1992, we visited some 50 islets in the Aegean and acquired a pretty good idea of the species on them. We collected fossils and samples from plants and animals, and documented new species like the Podarcis levendis lizard, which we named after the foundation that helped us.”

Over time, Mylonas and other scientists built a compelling case for these islands’ enormous significance. “They are like the Galapagos for Europe. They are treasure troves of biodiversity and endemism.” The islands are important for migrant and breeding seabirds and raptors, “a breeding site for endangered species like the Mediterranean monk seal and a convergence point for many cetaceans,” says the scientist.

As in many other cases, the scientific community started paying attention when a new threat emerged for these areas a few years ago in the shape of a business proposal to create a wind farm on 14 islets and rocks in the Cyclades and the Dodecanese. “We were alarmed and awoke from our stupor,” admits Mylonos with disarming candor. “We all knew how important these tiny islands were and had never imagined that such a proposal would be seriously entertained.”

The proposal was, fortunately, turned down.

Last year, NECCA commissioned a study titled “Documenting the biodiversity of invertebrates and the human presence on the islets of the Aegean.” What is interesting is that the study was proclaimed before any discussion about a marine park in the area had commenced. Its results, however, will prove immensely useful in its documentation and, of course, in its delineation.

The study is being carried out by the University of Crete’s Natural History Museum, with the participation of Associate Professor Maria Alexiou-Chatzaki, an expert on arachnids, Professor Spyros Sfenthourakis for isopods, Dr Iasmi Stathi for scorpions, Dr Stylianos Simaiakis for millipedes, and Katerina Vardinoyannis for terrestrial molluscs.

“We conduct two visits, one during the wet and another during the dry season. We lay traps on the ground and collect samples by hand. The aim is to document the significant biodiversity of invertebrates on these islets,” explains Vardinoyannis. 

“It is so important to protect these islets. People believe that these species are not at risk because they’ve survived in isolation, but that’s not true. They are actually extremely vulnerable to any type of change. For example, because of their geomorphology, these islets are very susceptible to erosion. We have seen enormous changes in the 40 years that we’ve been visiting. They are also vulnerable to human interventions; a case in point is when rabbits were introduced to one of them a few years ago and wreaked all sorts of havoc because they burrow and eat plant roots. Overgrazing is another big problem because many of these islands have been rented out to shepherds for years. We have 19th century sources telling us that the islet of Dia had such dense vegetation that you couldn’t walk through it; now it’s completely bald. It’s the goats that did that,” she adds.

“Most of the islets belong to monasteries, which leased them to shepherds who used to live on them with their families. There was a time when Syrna had 50 people living on it and working in livestock and farming,” says Mylonas. “Now, on those that are still leased, the shepherds ferry their flocks over on small boats in the fall and collect them at Easter. I don’t think that grazing is the problem; but overgrazing is. And this occurred because the livestock farmers were subsidized for every individual animal so they brought as many as they could to the island, without caring about whether they produced something or not. This wasn’t just the case on the islets, but also on inhabited islands. Kasos, for example, once had 25,000 sheep and goats, but it was not a milk producer.”

The scientists believe that the marine park is a good idea for protecting these specific islets. “I really hope they make it and politics doesn’t stand in the way,” says Mylonas. “What is important is that the islands are monitored and well-managed, that the conditions are created so that scientists can come here from all over the world to study these cores of biodiversity. A proper approach will also benefit the residents of the nearby islands, such as Astypalaia, Karpathos, Nisyros and Milos.” 

Studies for determining protected species

The plan to create a protected national marine park in the Aegean (and another in the Ionian) was announced by the Greek government during the ninth international Our Ocean Conference in Athens in mid-April.

According to what has been announced so far, the Aegean’s protected zone will encompass some 45 islets, all of which were inducted into the Natura 2000 network in the 1990s and the 2010s. They stretch from Velopoula and Falkonera west of Milos to the islets around Nisyros. How many of these will ultimately become part of the national park will be decided by the end of the year.

That will be determined chiefly by the findings of a special environmental study that is being carried out (and is expected to finish soon) for the Natura area of the Cycladic and Dodecanese islands, as well as by more specialized studies commissioned by the Natural Environment & Climate Change Agency (NECCA).

“We have started with the studies for determining protected species,” Environment Minister Thodoros Skylakakis tells Kathimerini.

“The geographical dimension of the marine park and the necessary protection measures will depend on the conclusions of these studies. We are planning to have them finished by the end of the year so that we can meet the commitments we made at the international conference. The main objective of these parks is to protect birds and marine mammals.” 

The battle against overgrazing

Giorgos Vogiatzis (nicknamed Fellas) spent the first years of his life on Pontikousa, an islet west of Astypalaia, in the eastern Aegean. It was a lonely life. “Until I started school, we lived most of the time there and on Ofidousa [a neighboring islet]. After that, I only went in the summers. We ‘had’ these islands from my grandfather, my father, and me; we rented them from the municipality and we had animals. On Pontikousa we lived in a cave, but on Ofidousa we had a normal house. My parents had animals, they also made charcoal stoves and that’s how we survived,” he tells Kathimerini, sitting near his boat.

“If we needed anything, there were two spots we we could light a fire to alert someone. One was the ‘good’ fire, which meant we wanted someone from Astypalaia to come, but it wasn’t urgent. The other was the ‘bad’ fire, a sign that someone should come quickly to help.”

Vogiatzis’ story is common to many residents of the small Aegean islands. In recent decades, most of the families raising animals that lived permanently on those islets gradually relocated to the nearest large island. For example, the Metaxotos family, the last inhabitants of Syrna, a small island of about 4 sq.km, moved to Astypalaia a few decades ago.

Today, Vogiatzis leases six small and large islands in the wider area of Astypalaia, to use them as pastures. “On Syrna we have 500 goats, on Plakides 30, on Dyo Adelfia 25 sheep. On Ofidousa we have about 130 goats and on Pontikousa 50. On Syrna and Ofidousa, which are big islands, the animals stay there all year round – on Syrna there is a well and I have installed a photovoltaic system that operates a pump with a float, to keep the water trough is always full. The animals graze freely and I only feed them in October-November because there is not enough vegetation. On the smaller islands, I take the animals there in December and collect them in May and I have them on Astypalaia and take care of them because there is not enough vegetation for them to survive the summer.”

Vogiatzis believes that animal husbandry under these conditions is no longer profitable. “We were subsidized by Europe, now the subsidy has been cut in half, 19 euros per head, while the Spaniards get 40 euros. The money you get from the subsidies just about covers the animal feed,” he says.

But how harmless is the use of uninhabited islands as pastures? Many scientific studies have shown in recent years that overgrazing leads to the rapid degradation of the environment and, in some extreme cases, to their desertification. One of the scientists who have dealt extensively with the subject is Johannes Foufopoulos, associate professor in ecosystem science and management, conservation and restoration at the University of Michigan.

“We have studied grazing on small islets and on larger islands. On larger islands, if it is done sensibly, it is good for the ecosystem. On the small islets, however, the species have not adapted to grazing. If you leave too many animals for a long time, damage is caused as the vegetation does not have time to recover. Where soil is stripped, erosion by rain and wind begins, eventually leading to desertification,” Foufopoulos tells Kathimerini.

“In addition, there are many endemic or near-endemic species on the isolated islets. A herd of goats is enough to wipe out a species that exists only there and nowhere else in the world. For these reasons, in my opinion, on the islets that are smaller than 1 square kilometer, grazing should be completely prohibited,” he adds.

Foufopoulos visits the Aegean islands every year with a group of his students, studying their ecology. In recent years, he has started discussions with local bodies and livestock farmers on the conditions under which grazing on the small islands could be stopped. Eventually, these discussions resulted in the first, symbolic move: Vogiatzis showed a progressive spirit and withdrew his animals from the islets of Dyo Adelfia and Plakides. On Monday, a memorandum was signed for this purpose between the breeder, the University of Michigan, the municipality (to which the islets belong), the Cyclades Preservation Fund (CPF) and the Petites Iles de Mediterranee (PIM), organizations that financially support the idea.

“We talked with Mr Vogiatzis about the damage caused by overgrazing and he was very receptive,” Foufopoulos says. “Already on Wednesday, Mr Vogiatzis collected his animals from Dyo Adelfia, an operation that is not at all simple on islands with a difficult terrain. The municipality, for its part, pledges that it will not lease the specific islets again. And we will monitor the course of recovery of the ecosystem with the aim – if the measure works as positively as we believe – of proposing its extension to other small or even larger islands,” he explains.

News of the creation of a national marine park in the region was received differently by scientists and the local community. “Day boats take tourists to Kounoupia [an islet near Astypalaia] for swimming. The island’s fishermen – Astypalaia has 30 boats – go to many of the islets for fishing. If they are banned from visiting and fishing, what will become of so many families?” says Vogiatzis.

Foufopoulos is in favor. “If the national marine park is finally established on these islets, it will be very positive for their protection,” he says, adding, however, that the state should develop training programs for young people on the value of the area, so that they can turn to ecotourism. “For fishermen there should be special care, possibly to help them turn to fishing tourism. At any rate, with climate change in a few years they will not be able to survive from the sea alone,” he says.