Nearly 170 endangered seals have been found dead on the coast of the Caspian Sea in Russia for the past several days.
Dead seal (AFP) off the coast of the Caspian Sea
Nearly 170 endangered seals have been found dead on the coast of the Caspian Sea in the Dagestan Republic of Russia. Russian researchers have given information about this. Viktor Nikiforov of ‘Moscow Marine Mammals Research Center’ told news agency AFP on Thursday that we saw these dead animals and took pictures of them. Apart from this, their GPS has been noted.
In the photographs, it can be seen that the dead seal skeletons are lying on the coast. Nikiforov said, death of seals can be due to industrial pollution, fishing or poaching. Their deaths may also have happened due to being trapped in the trap. He said, these deaths may have happened due to climate change and some other reasons in the meantime. It can take up to a year to identify the causes of deaths accurately.
Caspian Sea extends to five countries
According to the researchers, these seals were found about 100 km to the south of Machachakala, the capital of Dagestan. At the same time, the Russian Federal Fisheries Agency in the North Caucasus said that it has sent inspectors to count the new number of dead seals. The inquiry committee has said that it will investigate the matter. The Caspian Sea extends to Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan. It is the largest ocean in the world surrounded by land.
The population of seals was 1 million in the 20th century
Due to decades of excessive hunting and industrial pollution in the Caspian Sea, the number of seals is decreasing. Experts say that at present there are about 70 thousand seals in Sagar, while in the beginning of 20th century there used to be 10 lakhs. The pollution caused by the extraction of oil and gas from this region, the declining water level of the ocean due to climate change is a matter of crisis for many living creatures here.
300 seals were found dead in December
The United Nations Environment Program has warned that the Caspian Sea is bearing a heavy burden of pollution. Earlier, in December 2020, authorities found about 300 endangered seals dead on the Caspian coast of Dagestan. Pollution was said to be the reason behind his death.
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