World Fund for Nature’s Barents Branch launches a three-year project to conserve the Red Book Atlantic walrus that inhabits the Oran Islands. This was reported by the coordinator of the environmental projects department Margarita Leskova.
Together with World Fund for Nature, the Russian Arctic national park, scientists of the Marine Mammals Research and Expedition Center and the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences will work on the project, Interfax reports.
The Oran Islands are the northernmost islands of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago (Arkhangelsk region), their total area is about 3 square kilometers.
Environmentalists are concerned about growing threats to Atlantic walruses due to climate change, pollution of the oceans and increased tourist flow to the Arctic. Experts still do not know exactly how many individuals live on the islands.
Scientists intend to install camera traps, and mark animals with satellite tags to estimate which water areas near the islands they use and where they migrate, leaving the rookery in late autumn.
As reported by News.ru, a record number of walruses was observed off the northwestern coast of the Yamal Peninsula. According to estimates, there were about 300 individuals.