The Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia was called for inscribing the Caspian seal into the Red Book

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation has received a deputy’s demand to inscribe the Caspian seal into the Red Book of the Russian Federation and ban commercial hunting on this species. This appeal to Ministry Dmitry Kobylkin was sent by Umakhan Umakhanov, the State Duma Deputy from the Republic of Dagestan.

In his request, the parliamentarian points out numerous appeals from citizens concerned about the disappearance of the Caspian seal, the only marine mammal living only in the Caspian Sea. ‘Despite the Caspian seal population decreasing by 90 %, the species has not been inscribed into the Red Data Book in the Russian Federation. Moreover, there has still been a quota for its commercial slaughter,’ the text of the document says. Umakhanov also notes that the threat to the Caspian seal population is growing due to the intensive extraction of gas and oil in the breeding areas of these animals, as well as due to large-scale poaching.

‘I ask you to inform about the work carried out in this direction in your ministry, and also ask you to consider abolishing the quota for commercial hunting on the Caspian seal and inscribe it into the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation,’ it was written in the deputy’s appeal.

Source: Parliamentary newspaper, This is the Caucasus.
In the photo: the Caspian seal injured fishing net is on an island near the Kendirli Spit (Kazakhstan). The photo by M. Baimukanov, the Institute of Hydrobiology and Ecology (Irgeli, Kazakhstan).