Nearly 2,000 corpses of Caspian seals, a species threatened with extinction in Kazakhstan and the only mammal present in this closed sea, were found in less than a month, the authorities of this Central Asian country announced on Wednesday.
The reasons for this massacre have not yet been established, in particular due to the advanced level of decomposition complicating the taking of samples according to the Fisheries Committee, dependent on the Ministry of Agriculture.
“In total, 1,989 carcasses of dead seals were discovered between October 24 and November 18, 2024,” said the Fisheries Committee, which continues to monitor the coasts, in a press release. An initial assessment on November 7 was 530 victims.
According to a specialist from the Kazakh Institute of Hydrobiology and Ecology, “pollution of the marine environment could be the probable cause of the death” of the seals, while the Fisheries Committee points the finger at “the release of underwater gases by earthquakes. The results of the analyzes should only be known within three to four months.
The Caspian seal has been included by Kazakhstan and Russia on the red list of rare species threatened with extinction and suffers from poaching as well as pollution.
The Caspian is a closed sea also considered the largest lake in the world with its 371,000 km2an area larger than that of Germany, and borders five countries (Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan).
According to scientists, the alarming drop in water level coupled with the rise in its temperature endangers marine flora and fauna.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the number of these mammals fell by more than 70% in the last century, before increasing again, according to estimates by Kazakh authorities, to around 270,000.
