Kazakhstan’s ecologists now have a source of funding to rehabilitate the Caspian seal, QazMonitor reports citing the Caspian seal Research and Rehabilitation Center.
The Caspian Seal RRC established by CAIER (Central Asian Institute of Ecological Research) announced that the center won grants from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and the Rufford Foundation charity organization.
Caspian seal RRC is the only organization in Kazakhstan providing veterinary care to the endemic species.
Experts plan to use the grants to study the coastal waters of the Caspian Sea, as well as to study and rehabilitate the Caspian seal.
"Water samples will be taken to the CAIER analytical laboratory for chemical analysis. The samples will be analyzed for the presence of heavy metals,” the Center explained. “There are plans to do organoleptic, quantitative-chemical, atomic-absorption spectral analysis.”
CAIER has been studying the decline of the Caspian seal population since 2015. Six expeditions were carried out with the participation of foreign scientists, which led to the inclusion of the Caspian seal in the Red List of Kazakhstan in 2020.