Experts sound the alarm: not a single seal rookery is left in Azerbaijan

"Compared with the 90s, the number of seals in Azerbaijan has fallen fourfold. You could say that not a single rookery is left in the Azerbaijani waters of the Caspian," said Tariel Eybatov, coordinator of the international seal protection project.
On Shakhova Spit, where they used to gather, not a single seal wintered this year. At present, specialists of the Azerbaijani part of the "Darwin Initiative" project are processing photographic material taken from aircraft.
Preliminary studies have shown that in the northern part of the Caspian, in Russian waters, the seal birth rate has dropped sharply. And that all the dying seals are carried by the waters of the Caspian towards Absheron.
How, then, can one not call the Absheron Peninsula a seal graveyard? Admittedly, Russian specialists deny that seal numbers have declined and were therefore even going to set a quota for catching them. However, after international organisations intervened, the issue was dropped.
According to T. Eybatov, there are a hundred reasons for the decline in seal numbers. And almost all of them are related to the human factor. There are very few natural causes.
We would remind you that the international "Darwin Initiative" project to protect the Caspian seal was launched in 2006. It includes all the Caspian littoral states, which are currently drawing up an Action Plan to save the Caspian seal.

Source: www.1news.az