Tengrinews.kz – The government has explained the mass deaths of seals and swans on the Caspian Sea coast. Laboratory tests and checks of collected samples are being conducted over the incident.
In April, about 100 dead seals and dozens of swans were found on the Caspian Sea coast. Journalists asked representatives of the agriculture and ecology ministries whether the cause had been established.
According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture Amangali Berdalin, such cases have occurred before and may be linked to natural phenomena.
“This is not the first time we have had such cases. It is connected with natural phenomena, including natural gas emissions that can occur during earthquakes. But, as usual, we find these carcasses already in a decomposed state because waves wash them ashore. We take the necessary samples and study them, but no matter how many times we have done this, no diseases have been found,” Amangali Berdalin said.
He noted that specialists had also collected the necessary samples in the latest case, and laboratory tests are now underway.
For his part, Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Nurken Sharbiyev said no excess of permissible levels of pollutants had been detected in the water.
“As for the water samples taken, no exceedance of the maximum permissible concentration was found,” Sharbiyev said.
In April this year, nearly 100 dead seals were washed ashore on the Caspian coast in the Tupkaragan district of Mangystau Region. According to the Institute of Hydrobiology and Ecology, the seals died more than a month earlier. However, their bodies were not immediately washed ashore because of a stormy westerly wind.
Earlier, the Ministry of Ecology told us what awaits the Caspian Sea by 2050. The ministry clarified that between 2006 and 2025, the coastline in some places receded by 30–35 kilometers. Experts cite climate change, increased evaporation, reduced water inflow and human economic activity as the main causes of the sea’s shallowing.
