The aerial stage of the "Soul of the Caspian" expedition with the purposes of research and preservation of the Caspian seal was completed on October 31 in the Astrakhan region. These are the first aerial observations of the smallest seal on earth after it was entered into the Red Book of Russia. Aviation monitoring was carried out by the Clean Seas Ecological Foundation and scientists from the IEE RAS. At the helm of the La-8 amphibious aircraft was a Hero of Russia, cosmonaut, test pilot Valery Tokarev.
Takeoff and landing, and between them - an average of five hours of flight over the Caspian in search of animals. The expeditionary group of the Soul of the Caspian project spent 6 days in Astrakhan, completed 4 air routes with a total length of about 2,600 thousand kilometers, exploring an area of more than 12 thousand square kilometers.
On three routes, the observers detected approximately 400 animals. Some of the seals were in the water, and most of them were on Maly Zhemchuzhny Island and in the shallows next to it. Accurate data will be obtained after computer processing of photographic materials from the monitoring complex, which is specially designed for aerial observations of marine mammals.
In addition to seals, scientists detected and recorded many birds, schools of fish and, regrettably, abandoned fishing nets and numerous boats in the Dagestan part of the Caspian Sea during their flights.
The research aircraft also flew over the oil platform of the Lukoil company. The area around it was clear of industrial influence.
After completing the aerial part of the expedition, the scientific and film crews move to the Astrakhan State Reserve, to the Damchik cordon. Together with the staff of the reserve, they will have to cross the Volga delta to the Caspian Sea in high-speed boats to reach the seal haul-outs. There it is necessary to take biological samples from the seals and attach satellite transmitters to their backs to observe the movements of animals.
The video about the first stage of the expedition can be found through this link.
Expedition dates in 2021:
Stage I - aviation monitoring October 25 - October 30
Stage II - tagging October 31 - November 10, 2021.
The realisation of this project was made possible thanks to:
PJSC "Lukoil"
FSUE "Rosmorport"
Non-state nature conservation center "NABU-Caucasus"
Severtsov IEE RAS
FSBI "Astrakhan State Reserve"
With the support of:
Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia
Rosprirodnadzor
Information Partners:
State TV and Radio Company "Lotos"
Caspian Seal Rescue Agency www.kaspika.org
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