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FSUE "Rosmorport" becomes a partner of the Caspian seal study and conservation eco-project "Soul of the Caspian"

FSUE "Rosmorport" becomes a partner of the Caspian seal study and conservation eco-project "Soul of the Caspian"

FSUE "Rosmorport" has become a partner of the Soul of the Caspian environmental project for study and conservation of the Caspian seal. The project was developed by the Clean Seas (Chistye Morya) Foundation together with leading experts on marine mammals of the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences with support from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation.

The participants of the Soul of the Caspian project will conduct several expeditions in order to collect and update scientific data on spreading, key habitats and population relationships of seals, and also to detect factors affecting the decline of their population.

The first expedition for studying the Caspian seal starts on October 26. Scientific and film crews will fly along the Russian coast of the Caspian Sea on the La-8 amphibious aircraft along pre-built routes. At the second stage, the expedition group together with the inspectors of the Astrakhan State Nature Reserve will go by sea on speedboats to Maly Zhemchuzhny Island to install satellite transmitters on animals and take bioassays.

Later on, it is planned to study the current state of the Caspian seal population and develop a strategy for its conservation.

Photo: Mirgaliy Baymukanov


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The Caspian seal is one of the smallest seals on the planet. Being the only mammal of the Caspian Sea, it is also an indicator of its ecosystem. Over the past 100 years, the population of this mammal has decreased by 90 %. In 2008, the Caspian seal appeared in the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as "endangered", and in 2020 - on the pages of the Russian Red Data Book.