The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has issued a press release expressing concern about the fate of extremely vulnerable sea otters due to the situation off the coast of Kamchatka.
“In the photo and video materials, we see the mass death of sea urchins as a result of toxic water pollution off the eastern coast of Kamchatka. We still do not know the exact reasons that caused the death of benthic organisms. But there is reason to fear that unidentified pollution will have a deadly effect on the south of the peninsula, and will lead to similar results, ”the document says.
Experts emphasize that sea urchins are the main product in the diet of sea otters. In recent years, an impressive decline in the sea otter population has been taking place in the Northern Kuriles for unknown reasons. Poisoned sea urchins – can be a decisive factor in the extinction of the population.
Sergei Rafanov, director of the WWF-Russia representative office in the Kamchatka-Beringian ecoregion, pointed out that the creation of closed protected waters and islands in key habitats of sea otters would serve as a top-priority solution to stabilize the population of rare animals. “It is necessary to develop and adopt new” Rules for the protection of marine mammals “, instead of canceled in June this year,” – concluded the representative of the organization.