The Ministry of Nature of Russia will hold a winter accounting of Caspian seals, which are found dead on the seashore every year, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the press service of the ministry.
Accounting starts at the end of February and will last until mid-March. It is during this period that almost all seals come to breed in Russian territorial waters with a large ice cover.
Minister of Nature Alexander Kozlov noted that in addition to the number of seals, scientists will also study their habitat, especially areas of natural gas emissions, and monitor birds and fish on the Russian coast.
Monitoring this year is necessary in order to identify changes in the populations of the Caspian seal and other animals living in this zone.
Every year, dead seals are found on the coast of the Caspian Sea. According to scientists, this is due to underwater emissions of natural gas (methane and related gases). In December last year, about 2.5 thousand dead seals were found on the shore of the Caspian Sea in Dagestan.
According to the latest data, now the number of the Caspian seal, or as it is otherwise called the Caspian seal, has already fallen to 300 thousand.
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