On October 26, 2021 at 12.30 a press conference will be held at the B.M. Kustodiev Astrakhan International Airport, dedicated to the launch of the ecological project for the study and conservation of the Caspian seal "Soul of the Caspian Sea". The project was developed by the Clean Seas Foundation in cooperation with leading experts on marine mammals from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of Russian Academy of Sciences with the support of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation.
The first expedition begins this autumn. On the La-8 amphibious aircraft, the scientific and film crew will fly along the Russian coast of the Caspian Sea along preset routes. At the helm is the main pilot of all air expeditions of the Clean Seas Foundation - Hero of Russia Valery Tokarev, cosmonaut, 1st class test pilot.
At the second stage, the expedition team, together with the inspectors of the Astrakhan State Nature Reserve, will go out to sea in speedboats to the island of Maliy Zhemchuzhny to install satellite transmitters on animals and take bio-samples.
All these are just the first steps of the Soul of the Caspian project. There is still a lot of work ahead to study the current state of the Caspian seal population and develop a strategy for its conservation.
The Caspian seal (Pusa Caspica) is one of the smallest seals on the planet. It is not only the only mammalian inhabitant of the salt lake called the Caspian Sea, but also an indicator of its ecosystem.
Over the past 100 years, the number of this mammal has decreased by 90%. In 2008, the Caspian seal was included in the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in the status of “endangered”. And in 2020 it made its way onto the pages of the Red Book of Russia.
Ecologists and scientists of all the Caspian states have long sounded the alarm about the decline in the number of Caspian seals and the mass deaths recorded in the past few years on the territory of Dagestan.
Our ultimate goal is for the Caspian seal species to no longer be endangered and prosper in the vastness of the Caspian.
Expedition objectives:
- collection / updating of scientific data on the distribution, key habitats and population relationships of seals;
- formation of a map of the Caspian seal haul-outs;
- identification of factors influencing the degradation of the population, including anthropogenic pollution in the habitats of seals;
- exchange of data with studies carried out in other Caspian states.
The press conference will be attended by:
1. Babushkin Igor Yurievich, Governor of the Astrakhan region
2. Kobylkin Dmitry Nikolaevich, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Ecology, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection (on-line)
3. Makanova Irina Yuryevna, Director of the Department of State Policy and Regulation in the Sphere of Development of Protected Areas of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation (on-line)
4. Martynov Igor Alexandrovich, Chairman of the Duma of the Astrakhan region
5. Bogoslovsky Vasily Viktorovich, General Director of the Clean Seas Foundation
6. Lyashko Nikolay Nikolaevich, General Director of OOO LUKOIL-Nizhnevolzhskneft
7. Kim Alexander Vladimirovich, acting Director of the FSUE "Rosmorport" Astrakhan branch
8. Kovalev Vitaly Vladimirovich, Founder and Director for Science of the Non-State Environmental Center "NABU-Caucasus"
9. Glazov Dmitry Mikhailovich, Leading Engineer of the A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS, executive director of the Regional Public Organization "Council for Marine Mammals"
10. Solovieva Maria Andreevna, candidate of biological sciences, researcher at the A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS
11. Tokarev Valery Ivanovich, test pilot, cosmonaut, Hero of Russia, chief pilot of the expedition
12. Tsymlyansky Nikolay Anatolyevich, Director of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Astrakhan State Reserve"
13. Anna Subbotina, Deputy General Director of the Clean Seas Foundation
14. Representative of Rosprirodnadzor
Accreditation for journalists: +7 952-592-87-19 Julia
Related materials:
TV and Radio Astrakhan: "An eco-project for the study and conservation of the Caspian seal starts in Astrakhan"