CASPIAN SEAL

The Caspian seal is the only marine mammal in the Caspian Sea, and is found no where else in the world. At the start of the 20th century there were around 1 million Caspian seals. It is an iconic animal for the region, and is a key indicator for the health of the Caspian Sea, upon which the livelihoods of thousands of people depend... The CSCN evolved as a seal specialist group from the Caspian Bioresources Network, established in 1997 through the World Bank. Dr Tariel Eybatov, of Baku, Azerbaijan was its first member, arising out of his close involvement with diagnosing the 1997 seal mortalities in Azerbaijan and the initiation of the ECOTOX project. Dr Hormoz Asadi from Iran, Dr Pavel Erokhin from Turkmenistan and Dr Aidyn Kydyrmanov of Kazakhstan all also worked with ECOTOX, and then became part of the new seal network. Since Dr Asadi's death in January 2008, the Plan for the Land NGO is continuing the project in Iran. In Kazakhstan the Institute of Fisheries and the new Instiitute..