Student Education News

Caspian seal conservation

Research by Dr Simon Goodman shows how large the effect of human activity has been on the Caspian Seal.

The detrimental effects of human activity on ecosystems and individual species are now widely acknowledged. Research by Dr Simon Goodman on a rare species of seal, the Caspian Seal, has used modelling techniques and historical data from annual hunting records to show how large the effect of human activity has been. Over the period 1867 to 2005, Dr Goodman’s research has indicated that numbers of Caspian seals have declined by at least 90%. This is primarily due to unsustainable hunting throughout the 20th Century, and is part of a broader picture of catastrophic ecological change in the Caspian over the last century.

Dr Goodman is now working with Institutions in the 5 Caspian states to develop solutions for conservation of the Caspian seal. His areas of influence include:

• Advisor to UN Caspian Environment Programme.
• Development of conservation action plan for Caspian seals.
• Development of pan-Caspian protected areas for Caspian seals.
• Change in International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classification of Caspian seals to Endangered status.
• Advisor to AGIP KCO (an agent for the operator of the North Caspian Sea Production Sharing Agreement).

2nd November 2012