Ten percent of Caspian seals died last year
Tuesday, October 2, 2001

Ten Percent of Caspian Seals Died Last Year

Interfax News Agency

October 2, 2001

Astrakhan - One-tenth of the Caspian seal population died last year, largely because of industrial pollution in the area, data collected by Greenpeace of Russia and the State Ecological Control and Monitoring Service of the Natural Resources Ministry suggests.

Concentrations of noxious matter found in the tissues of Caspian seals are hundreds of times larger than those found in the 1990's in Baltic seals and in 1998 in Baikal seals, Greenpeace program coordinator Alexei Kiselyov told a news conference in Astrakhan on Tuesday.

Greenpeace started its Volga expedition in Saratov on September 18. Once it completes research in the Volgograd and Astrakhan regions, it will move back to Saratov and Samara.

All Russian regions should start identifying and quenching sources of stable organic pollutants as soon as possible. Once it does so, Russia may obtain funds needed to develop a national plan of action and early elimination of the sources," they told the news conference.