TEHRAN – The country’s first specialized center for preserving, treating and dissecting Caspian seals was opened on Thursday in Bojak National Park in Gilan province of the Caspian Sea.
The center aims to revive and care for seals, the only marine mammal in the Caspian Sea. The opening of the center will be a milestone in the implementation of national and regional programs to protect this endangered animal, IRIB news agency quoted Ahmad Reza Rahijanzadeh, Deputy Director-General for Marine and Wetland Affairs at the Ministry of Environment, as saying.
The center has the capacity to become a specialized veterinary and research complex to study causes of death in seals, he added.
Rahijanzadeh added that training fishermen to report incidents and transport injured seals quickly (to centers) and using drones to monitor seals will play an important role in reducing losses.
The official also said coastal communities can also contribute to conservation programs by reporting seal sightings and carcasses.
Conservation action plan to save Caspian seals
In recent years, an increasing number of dead seals have been discovered on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, raising concerns among environmentalists that the species is now more at risk of extinction than ever before.
The species is currently listed as Vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, and its population has declined for a variety of reasons, from 1 million to 70,000 today.
In November 2024, DOE began implementing a national action plan focused on protecting Caspian seals.
The main objective of the plan is to protect the Caspian seal, a rare, endemic and endangered species in the Caspian Sea, as a priority for marine environmental action, IRNA quoted Ministry of Energy official Mohammad Talebi Matin as saying.
The establishment of the Caspian Seal Conservation Center at the Talbiat Modares University branch in Nour County is one of the important steps taken in this regard.
This will foster positive interactions between the university and the executive branch, and is expected to lead to positive results in the conservation of Caspian seals in the near future, officials said.
In Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan provinces, Executive Working Groups have been established in collaboration with the governors and other beneficiaries under the management of the Provincial Environment Department.
Talebi Matin also said that seal rescue centers in these three provinces are well-equipped and professional training workshops have already been held for beneficiaries and rangers.
Training included basic methods of rescue, release, carcass disposal, and correct sample collection.
In cooperation with neighboring countries and related organizations, efforts are underway to investigate dead seals on the coast and determine the cause of the carcass.
Caspian seals are in urgent need of protection. Iranian efforts alone cannot ensure the conservation of Caspian seals. It requires cooperation from neighboring countries, including Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
The Seventh Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea (known as COP7), to be held in Tehran, will focus on the conservation of Caspian seals.
Speaking at the Coordination Conference for the Conservation of the Caspian Seal Species, DOE Secretary Shina Ansari said that given recent seal losses and their critical status, conservation efforts must be prioritized.
MT/MG