The environmentalists of Turkmenistan took part in the international webinar “The state of the population of the Caspian Seal in the present and the future”. Representatives of scientific centers and biodiversity experts from the five countries of the Caspian region participated in the webinar. This was reported by NewscentraLasia.net, with reference to the newspaper “Neutral Turkmenistan”.
The Caspian seal is a unique look that plays an important role in the Caspian ecosystem. However, the seal population is at risk due to a number of factors, including because of climate change.
During the webinar, the results of the accounting and condition of the population of the Caspian Seal, which lives in the limited territories of the Caspian, were discussed. In this regard, monitoring of the number and habitat of the seal within the Turkmen sector of the sea is the priority task of scientists and inspectors of the Khazar State Natural Reserve of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Turkmenistan.
Given the fact that the propagation of the seal occurs in the winter in the northern part of the sea, mainly on the ice, it was noted that last year from January to October in the Turkmen water area of the Caspian, 55 seals were taken into account: 44 adults and 11 young animals.
At present time, the ecologists of the region have determined important territories for all stages of the life cycle of the Caspian Seal, including reproduction, molting, migration and sucker.
Among the topics discussed in the webinar were:
- analysis of the monitoring data of the number, mortality and distribution of the Caspian seal;
- the influence of the regression of the sea and climate change;
- the detection of sea garbage and microplasty in the ecosystem of the coast and the coastal water area of the Caspian, its sources and the possible influence on the population of seals;
- development of a general monitoring program for the number and condition of the Caspian Seal by the Caspian countries.
Recommendations were also presented for conducting seal chipping and identifying chips numbers.
