At the tip of February, the Center for Research and Rehabilitation of the Caspian Seal, led by its founder Aselle Tasmagambatova, and the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomic Research organized one of many largest worldwide expeditions within the Caspian Sea.
Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, a Tasmagambetova Institute collaborator since 2022, additionally offered funding for the research’s students.
The Red Book lists the Caspian seal as an endangered species, so researchers from the United States, Norway, Great Britain, France, Saudi Arabia, and Kazakhstan set out on a journey to collect as a lot data as doable concerning the animal.
There is a big danger of extinction for these species as a result of human actions like air pollution, unlawful looking, local weather change, and illness.
It’s been scientifically confirmed that the Caspian seal doesn’t depart the ice at any level in the course of the life cycle of its younger. Thus, environmentalists are involved that international warming, along with the already documented lower in water ranges, could have a severe impact on crucial habitat for seals, as defined by CAIER founder and seal knowledgeable Aselle Tasmagambetova. The scientists plan to be taught extra about how seals adapt to temperature modifications with the assistance of specialised sensors equipped by companions in Saudi Arabia for the journey. Incredibly essential. Up to 70% of the females of this species could presently be sterile as a result of their habitat has been poisoned by oil, industrial and heavy metals, agricultural pesticides, radioactive waste, sewage, and family waste. Tasmagambetova warns that the creatures could have to relocate within the close to future. About seventy seals have been saved because the seal rehabilitation middle in Aktau, Kazakhstan began two years in the past, the ecologist claims. “About half of them were caught by illegal networks, so this is another serious problem that needs to be addressed,” Tasmagambetova says.
Dr. Tommy Nyman, a researcher on the NIBIO Svanhovd Molecular Center who additionally joined within the expedition, has discovered some parallels between the plight of seals within the Caspian Sea and that of seals in Finland’s Lake Saimaa. While the variety of Caspian seals has been steadily falling because the Nineteen Eighties, the variety of Saimaa seals has been steadily rising, from a mere 150 in that period to simply over 400 immediately. Tasmagambetova, a Norwegian environmentalist, attributes this alteration to current rules limiting the usage of fishing nets.
Scientists will likely be confronted with analyzing a mountain of knowledge concerning the Caspian Sea mammal habitat and the ailments and parasites to which the animals are weak on account of the journey. But it is already abundantly apparent that each one the Caspian area nations want to achieve mutual agreements to make sure that everybody works to guard the marine ecosystem of the Caspian Sea.
For instance, the Caspian Seal Research and Rehabilitation Center is ready to play a number one position in coordinating efforts to avoid wasting these creatures.
According to Aselel Tasmagambetova, such expeditions are needed as a result of “all analyses, studies, and collected material can be used to develop a targeted transnational policy within the framework of the Tehran Convention” to cease the present decline in seal numbers.
