On 25 April, in the Tupkaragan district of the Mangistau region, on the coast of the Caspian Sea, employees of the fisheries inspection department found 12 seal carcasses.
According to lada.kz, a working group consisting of representatives from the inspection, local executive bodies, and the Institute of Hydrobiology and Ecology travelled to the site where the seals were discovered.
"The discovered carcasses of the dead seals were in a highly decomposed state, which suggests that their deaths occurred at the same time during the winter period, and that the carcasses had been in the water ever since. They were washed ashore as a result of the westerly storm wind, which began on 23 April and continues to this day", reported the fisheries inspection department of the Mangistau region.
Specialists noted that for some specimens from which it was possible to take samples, institute staff partially collected tissue from internal organs, as well as tusks, for laboratory analysis.
"Furthermore, between 23 and 24 April 2024, during a coastal monitoring operation of the Caspian Sea, the inspection, together with staff from the Institute of Hydrobiology and Ecology, discovered 67 carcasses of dead seals, which were also in a decomposed state. Staff from the Zhaiyk-Caspian Interregional Basin Fisheries Inspection are continuing to monitor the coastal zone of the Caspian Sea. Information will be updated as it becomes available", the department noted.
According to the department, from 29 March to 25 April 2024, 182 carcasses of dead seals were discovered on the shore of the Caspian Sea.
It is worth recalling that the first reports of dead seals on the coast of the Caspian Sea appeared on 29 March. At that time, employees of the fisheries inspection of the Mangistau region, during a coastal monitoring operation, discovered 62 carcasses of dead seals in the Tupkaragan district.
It was later reported that as of 8 April, the total number of dead seals found on the Caspian coast had reached 103 carcasses.