A reserve for the preservation of the population of the Caspian seal will be created in Kazakhstan. This was announced on Tuesday, December 6, by the Minister of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources of the Republic Serikkali Brekeshev.
A reserve (from Latin reservatum, which means “preserved” and reservare – “to preserve”) is a territory protected by the state of Kazakhstan, described in the legislation of this country, where natural resources (animals and plants) are under special protection of the government. The types of such nature protection zones differ among themselves according to the type of territory: marine, marsh, botanical, zoological, hunting and others.
“Important issues are the conservation of the Caspian seal population,” Brekeshev said at a government meeting on Tuesday. “As part of the presidential order, work is underway to create a state natural reserve on the Caspian Sea.” He added that a natural-science study is being prepared, which the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources intends to receive in January 2023 and will continue to develop a feasibility study.
The idea of the need to create a state reserve in the Northern Caspian for the conservation of the Caspian seals was expressed at the XVII Forum of Interregional Cooperation between Russia and Kazakhstan in September 2021 by the President of the Republic, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. He pointed out that the problem of the decline in the population of the Caspian seal, which is included in the “red book” of both states, is acutely on the agenda. The Kazakh leader stressed that urgent measures are needed to preserve the population of this unique animal, protect the territory of its natural habitat and reproduction.
The Caspian seal or the Caspian seal is an endemic species of marine mammals from the family of true seals that lives in the Caspian Sea. The length of their body in adulthood is 120-148 cm, weight – about 50-60 kg. In winter, early spring and late autumn, these animals migrate to the northern part of the sea, where their accumulations form on the ice. Seals keep in herds. In this part of the Caspian Sea, they cub and molt, and in the fall they enter the mouths of the Volga and the Urals, to Volgograd and upstream of the Urals for 200 km, and move south in the spring. One of the key reasons that reduce the population of this species of seal, biologists consider sea pollution.