KAZAKHSTAN INVESTIGATES DEATH OF SEALS

UNCLAS ASTANA 001063 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON SENV ENRG EPET KZ SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN INVESTIGATES DEATH OF SEALS ¶1. Summary: Nearly 700 dead seals have been found on the shores of the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan's Mangystau Oblast since the end of March. Kazakhstan's Ministry of Environment has established an interagency commission to investigate the deaths, but no final conclusions have been reached. Local ecologists claimed that an early ice melt caused the deaths, a theory supported by the Ministry of Environment. In its preliminary report, however, the Ministry of Education attributed the deaths to a virus outbreak. The Mangystau Oblast is the center of Kazakhstan's petroleum operations, but no evidence exists linking the deaths to toxic emissions from the oil fields. End summary. ¶2. On March 30, 21 dead seals were found on the shore of the Caspian Sea in the Tyupkaragan district of the Mangystau oblast. Similar discoveries have been made throughout the month of April. By April 25, the number of dead seals had reached 674, including 524 baby seals, and continues to grow. ¶3. In early April, an interagency commission established by the Ministry of Environment traveled to the Mangystau Oblast to investigate the seal deaths. Local experts blamed the deaths on an unseasonably warm winter. According to Marat Orynbasarov, Deputy Head of the Mangystau Department for Environment Protection, seals usually rear their offspring on ice but were forced to shore this year because of an early ice-melt. Once ashore, the seals were not able to find sufficient fodder to feed their calves, leaving them weak and underfed. On April 10, the Ministry of Environment released a public statement in which it affirmed that weather was a likely cause for the seal deaths. ¶4. A different theory was offered by scientists from the Ministry of Education and Science's Research Institute for Biological Safety on April 11. In their preliminary report, the scientists posited that Phocine Distemper Virus, or "seal plague," may be the cause of the deaths. The virus killed 12,000 seals in the Caspian in 2000. The interagency commission investigating the deaths has not yet endorsed either theory and continues its inquiry. ¶5. Some experts also believed that the deaths might be connected to the discharge of pollutants because of the significant petroleum extraction activity in the Mangystau Oblast. In April 2006, 337 seals died because of pollutant discharge from Caspian oil wells. In this instance, however, pollution seems not to have played a role. The Mangystau regional center for sanitary and epidemiological control examined the seals and found that no sign of excessive heavy metals or pesticides in their systems. Seawater tests also did not reveal any oil products. ORDWAY