Mediterranean Monk Seal Protection Huge Success in Greece ” width=”696″> A Mediterranean Monk Seal (Monachus monachus) on a beach on the Greek island of Alonnissos. Credit: Facebook/Alonissos Insider In February of 2016, a rare feat in environmental protection took place when the Hellenic Society for the Study & Protection of the Mediterranean Monk Seal (MOm) announced that the seal had made an unexpected comeback in the Aegean, with its population recovering to the point where it was no longer considered “critically endangered.” The monk seal dropped down one category on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, from “critically endangered” to “endangered.”