243 seals, tons of fish wash up dead on Caspian Sea shore

    243 dead seals washed up on the Caspian Sea shore were found on April 25 in Bautino, Mangystau region in southwest Kazakhstan, Kazakh media report.
    Deputy head of Mangystau territorial inspection of forestry and wildlife Kuangali Ashakhov confirmed the incident and said a special commission was set up to investigate the causes of mass death of seals.
    "I cannot say right now what caused the mass death. Representatives of the ecology and veterinary station of Aktau took samples of water and air. Tissues of dead seals will be also analyzed if it is possible," Lada.kz reported Ashakhov as saying.
    Meanwhile, independent ecologists and fishery department experts assumed that the seals might be killed by poaching networks and icebreakers, or died of natural death.
    Also about 5-6 tons of fish washed up dead in the North Kazakhstan region, Kazakh media report April 24.
    The incident took place in the Glubokoye lake in Mamlyut district of the region, Khabar 24 TV channel reported.
    The lake mainly has carp fish.
    The washed up fish have been collected to date, they will be disposed, the report said.
    Representatives of the environmental department commented to the TV channel that the lake was not on lease and local people used to fish there. "This is the first suffocation of fish in the region this year. The region has 2,338 lakes in total, 265 of them are on lease," Khabar 24 reported.
    The fish likely froze during the cold winter and with the ice melting the suffocation occurred, the report said.
    Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of the region Kabiden Sadvakasov said that the water and fish samples are under examination right now. "Locals did not eat the fish, so I think there is no threat," he added.
    Reported by AKIpress.