Local officials reported on December 4 that approximately 700 seals, a species listed in the Red Book, have been found dead along the Caspian Sea coastline in the Russian region.
A Caspian seal caught in a net. (Photo: Ministry of Ecology of Kazakhstan).
“The number of seal carcasses found may increase. The cause of death has not yet been determined,” TASS reported, citing information from the regional fisheries agency.
Caspian seals, the only marine mammals found in the Caspian Sea, have been listed as endangered since 2008.
The carcasses of the unfortunate seals washed ashore on December 4 along the coastline of the Republic of Dagestan in Russia, bordering the Caspian Sea—the largest enclosed inland body of water in the world, shared by five countries: Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan, according to CNN.
Earlier this year, over 140 Caspian seals were found dead in waters off Kazakhstan, according to KASPIKA, the monitoring agency for Caspian seals.
In September, the Ministry of Ecology of Kazakhstan reported that 130 seals had died and washed up on the western coast of the country, as reported by AFP.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the population of Caspian seals has declined due to overhunting, habitat degradation, and climate change. Experts estimate that only about 68,000 Caspian seals remain today, compared to over one million at the beginning of the 20th century.
