The Caspian Sea and the Caspian Seal. Results of 54-year monitoring studies in the Azerbaijani Caspian Sea

Abstract

Unfortunately, the once large population of the Caspian seal - endemic to the Caspian Sea in the 20th century, due to a large number of objective and subjective reasons, underwent a sharp decline, and the number of seals fell from 2 million individuals to 100 thousand individuals. The sharp decline in the number of seals also affected the nature of the seal's habitat in the Azerbaijani waters of the Caspian Sea. At present, the Azerbaijani waters are used only for summer fattening and as a transit territory during autumn and spring migrations. There are no more so many seal rookeries that were widespread on the islands of the Absheron and Baku Archipelagoes, as well as on the Shakhova Spit. Active measures are needed to protect the seal in order to prevent its disappearance from the face of the Earth. As the final link in the Caspian Sea food chain, the seal plays an important role in its ecosystem and is a wonderful indicator of the health of the Caspian Sea ecosystem. Due to a sharp drop in water levels and rising temperatures in the Caspian Sea, a mass death of fish was observed on the southern coast of the Absheron Peninsula, there is an intensive reproduction of algae and water bloom. The entire coastal zone up to 300-400 meters from the shore is filled with algae. Such an abundance of algae is encountered for the first time. On the northern coast of the peninsula, the amount of algae in the coastal zone has also increased significantly, but not as much as on the southern coast. However, due to a sharp drop in water levels, new islands are appearing and old ones are expanding, on which new seal rookeries may form.