They will live!
Finally, it has happened. On October 27, 2017, Order No. 533 of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia “On approval of the total allowable catch of aquatic biological resources in the inland sea waters of the Russian Federation, in the territorial sea of the Russian Federation, on the continental shelf of the Russian Federation and in the exclusive economic zone of the Russian Federation in the Azov and Caspian Seas for 2018” was adopted. Behind this pile of clerical words, the main thing is hidden – more precisely, there has not been this main one there – there has not been our seal there. Finally, it has been removed from the deadly graph with an innocuous title ‘bioresources’. That is, in 2018, the commercial hunting quota for the Caspian seal will not be issued, which means 6,500 animals will remain alive – so much seals would have been supposed to catch in 2018. Six and a half thousand, friends, six and a half thousand! Of course, this is not a victory yet – our seal is not stubbornly being inscribed into the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation. Almost a year, the decision on this is wandering along the corridors of the Federal Fishery Agency of the Russian Federation and Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation and seems to have completely lost its way. Nevertheless, we sincerely congratulate all those who worried about these endangered creatures and fought for their lives. Caspian seals will live! Yes, they will live.
The note
From time immemorial, the Caspian seal was a target of hunting. It was killed for the sake of fat and fur, and people even treated something with its bile. Time passed, hunting gear was improved, markets grew, hunting became commercial, survey and statistics appeared. In a word, in the 19th century, 160 thousand animals were already killed per year. In 1879, an absolute record was set – 225.1 thousand (Pankov A.G., 2009 / the link). The 20th century came, and the commercial hunting was going on – over 1.5 million animals were killed from 1931 to 1940 (approximately 37.5 thousand female seals and 102 thousand pups per year). By 1967, the number of the only Caspian marine mammal was reduced to 470 thousand (Sokolskiy A.F. et al., 2013). From 1967 only pups, newborn and moulted, were killed – true, without limitation. In 1970, a limit was set – no more than 70 thousand pups a year. From 1977 the limit was reduced to 45 thousand, and from 1984 – to 40. In total, about 638 thousand Caspian seal pups were caught from 1970 to 1989 (Nozdrina L.Y. et al., 2010 / the link). In 1991, they decided to finish seals off finally (all around suddenly became a “resource” then), up to 58 % of the offspring was taken from the Caspian seal population, which is completely unacceptable from a biological point of view (Sokolskiy A.F. et al., 2013), and, from a human point of view, it is simply called ‘extermination’. Today around 110-270 thousand endemic animals remain from the once huge population. But this is, most likely, no longer true – the last survey of the Caspian seal in the Russian sector of the North Caspian was carried out five years ago…
Great job, well done. It’s nice to see the situation is getting better every year. Best wishes to all people who are working hard to save these beautiful animals.
Salam Amir, thank you so much for your kind support and such warm words. Believe, we will save these beautiful seals working together. Heyli mamnoon!
So glad that i hear this news
Dear Pouyaparviz, thank you so much for your indifference to this problem. We are happy to find a friendly support from the other site of the Caspian Sea. The sea is common, and we should save seals and the Caspian together.
Thank you so much, It seems a little step but actually this is a great work!
Animals are our silent partners in The planet , we must protect them.
Thanks again for your efforts.
Mamnoon, Seyedali. We believe Caspian seals will be protected by our common efforts. It is awful that defenseless animals suffer from the human. hank you for your indifference to all this and kind support!
It’s great, your efforts is very valuable for every Caspian seal lovers
Dear Samane, thank you so much. We are happy to have such friends around the Caspian. In this case we can save these endangered animals.
Thanks for your all efforts for these lovely ones. Love you from that side of Caspian, Iran!
Great efforts! Well done 🙂
Thank you so much, Reyhaneh!