Caspian Seal in Red Data Book of Turkmenistan

In 2024, the 4th edition of the Red Data Book of Turkmenistan was published. As in the previous edition of 2011, the Caspian seal was assigned Category I (CR), which indicates the critical status of this species in the Turkmenistan sector of the Caspian Sea – an intensive reduction in numbers (more than 80 %) and an extremely limited range. Special measures are needed to preserve it.

The article Phoca caspica (Gmelin, 1788) provides data on the catastrophic reduction in the number of Caspian seals registered in the Turkmenistan territorial waters of the Caspian Sea. In 1983-1984, on Ogurjaly (Ogurchinskiy) Island, the number of seals reached 13 thousand (Крылов, 1986), but in 2000-2001, it was estimated at 1.5 thousand (Berdyev, Zakaryayeva, 2009), in 2007 – 1 thousand (Ерохин, 2008), in 2011 – up to 500 (Ерохин, 2011); in 2016-2020, several dozen seals were sighted (Hazar DTG-nyň “Tebigat ŷyl ŷazgusy”, 2016-2020). The maximum number per 1 survey reached 25 individuals (23.07.2017) on Bolshoy Osushnoy Island. The maximum number of seals (50 individuals) was registered on Ogurjaly in winter (17.12.2020).

The main factors limiting the Caspian seal population size are: pollution of the sea by industrial and agricultural waste (Ершова, Зайцев, 2016; Володина и др., 2012); death in nets and during trawling; depletion of the food base; disturbance; reduction of ice fields in the Northern Caspian; and diseases (Гуляева и др., 2017).

The Caspian seal has been red-listed in Turkmenistan since 2011. The species is protected in the Hazar State Nature Reserve and Ogurjaly State Nature Sanctuary (under the reserve jurisdiction).

A full description of the Caspian seal Phoca caspica (Gmelin, 1788) is given in the printed edition:
The Red Data Book of Turkmenistan. Volume II: Invertebrate and vertebrate animals. 2024. The fourth edition, revised and updated. Turkmen State Publishing Service (Ashkhabad): 316-317.

Authors: Eldar A. Rustamov, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, Deputy Chairman of the Coordination Committee, Ramsar Regional Initiative for Central Asia (RRI-CA), Turkmenistan; Sahetmyrat B. Mammedov, Head of Scientific Department, the Hazar State Nature Reserve, Turkmenistan.

 

In the photograph credited by P.I. Erokhin in 2016: Caspian seals with pups. The last breeding on Ogurjaly (Ogurchinskiy) Island, Turkmenistan, February 7-15, 2002.

 

 

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