The Endangered Caspian seal is the Caspian Sea's top predator, and it's in trouble. While rampant hunting almost obliterated the species in the past, the luxurious delicacy caviar is the seal's latest threat.
The Caspian seals are innocent by-catch victims that will drown to their deaths or become injured in sturgeon nets. Most of the world's caviar comes from the unfertilized eggs of beluga sturgeon in the Caspian Sea. With caviar prices "ranging from between $7,000 and $10,000 a kilo," you can imagine how overexploited the sturgeon also are. Sturgeon are considered "the most endangered group of species on Earth," with 23 of 27 species "on the brink of extinction."
And they're taking the Caspian seals with them.
Sue Wilson, one author in a 2013 study examining the impact of sturgeon fisheries on the seals, describes to Deutsche Welle (DW), the desperate reality of Caspian seals: "There are now hundreds, if not thousands of seals being drowned in nets and having nets surround their bodies, killing them slowly...And everywhere they go, they end up swimming into these bits of net."
While unsustainable by-catch and hunting instances are on the rise, over 70 percent of the Caspian seal's population has declined, along with its habitat. Sign and share this petition urging leaders from the Caspian states to offer more protection to the Caspian Sea's top predator, the Endangered Caspian seal.
Photo Credit: Pescavelho
