A team of scientists has concluded that the primary cause of death of
thousands of Caspian seals over the past few months was a canine distemper virus. More
than 10,000 seals are thought to have died during April and May along the Kazakhstan
coast, with figures unknown for other sectors of the Caspian Sea's shoreline.
The Caspian seal was numerous at the start of the twentieth century, with its total
population estimated at about one million, but it has declined seriously in recent years.
A survey in the late 1980s estimated the seals' numbers to be between 360,000-400,000, but
they are certainly considerably less than that today. A report to be published in the
forthcoming issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal implicates the highly contagious
canine distemper virus as the
primary cause of this year's casualties. Callan Duck, a co-author of the report, suggested
that a possible reservoir for the disease could be wolves, foxes or
other terrestrial carnivores that come into contact with the seals when they are breeding
on the ice in winter months.
Heavy industrial and agricultural pollution, together with over fishing and poaching have
combined to hit Caspian seal numbers, as well as other species endemic to the world's
largest body of inland water, such as the Caspian sturgeon. High levels of DDT, found in
seal tissue in a study carried out in 1997, are believed to reduce fertility and damage
the seals' immune systems, leaving them more prone to disease. By Mike Lamb
For more information please visit: http://www.bbc.com
CASPIAN ENVIRONMENT PROGRAM IS FOR LOCAL
PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVES Yesterday the Caspian Environment Program's Coordination Unit took initiative to
gather representatives of Khatai regin's Executive Authority, oil & gas companies in
the face of BP, Exxon-Mobile, Statoil, Chevron and SOCAR, public organizations such as the
Consumers Union, the Children Environmental Police, the National Center for Environmental
Forecasting and local Mass-Media with the purpose to unite them into the local partnership
in the form of Caspian Concern Group. The meeting took place in the frame of the CEP
Public Awareness and Involvement (PAI) component, which is aimed at obtaining broad-based
participation of the general public, private sector associations (especially the oil and
gas companies), local Executive Authorities, NGOs and others in the development of the
National Caspian Action Plans and Strategic Action Program planning process. The mean of
achieving this objective is the establishment of Caspian Concern Group in five countries
(Azerbaijan, I.R.Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan), which brings key stakeholders
and particularly effective NGO's together to strategize and discuss common issues.
For more information please contact the editor.
KAZAKH COURT ORDERS KAZAKH-US OIL VENTURE TO PAY
FOR ECOLOGICAL DAMAGE Atyrau, 2 February: In line with a court ruling the oil-extracting [Kazakh-US]
Tengizchevroil joint venture, which is developing a major Kazakh oilfield, Tengiz (in
Atyrau Region, in the west of the country), has to pay a 5.8m-tenge fine (145.1 tenge to
one dollar) for the damage caused to the environment. The acting head of the department
for state
supervision over the protection of land resources and waste utilization of the Regional
ecology directorate, Kuralay Shankiyeva, told Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency that the
Regional court had issued a ruling to this effect after a suit was brought by local
ecologists.
She said that the Regional ecology directorate and Tengizchevroil spent nearly two years
battling in court. Passage to end omitted: the Tengizchevroil joint venture broke Kazakh
laws regulating the storage of oil products. Excerpt from report by the Kazakh news agency
Interfax-Kazakhstan.
CLEAN COAST IS A SAFE COAST "Oykumena" local Ecological Club of Turkmenbashy city has carried out
one of its numerous events dedicated to raising environmental awareness and appreciation
of the nature by school children. This club has been active for several years at the
school # 10. In January members of this club went to the Hazar Nature Reserve to clean the
coastal area from non-natural waste (bottles, plastic bags and etc.). Members of this club
are well aware of the environmentally friendly livelihood and participate in other events
such as munisipal territory clean up, drawing contests and etc.
For more information please contact the editor.
