The IUCN Task Force on Marine Mammal Protected Areas, a joint task force of the IUCN Species Survival Commission and the World Commission on Protected Areas, announces that Caspian seals have been awarded three Important Marine Mammal Areas, or IMMAs.
The identification of the Caspian Sea areas as IMMAs does not imply giving them a conservation status. It is hoped that the IMMA initiative based on expert assessment will stimulate the creation of new protected areas in the Caspian Sea or strengthen protection regimes on existing ones for the key Caspian seal habitat, including the winter breeding ice, migration routes and foraging areas, and sites used by animals to haul out on land for resting and moulting.
Learn more:
- the IUCN Joint SSC-WCPA Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force (website);
- Kaspika Caspian Seals Conservation Agency (website);
- the IUCN (website);
- the Tehran Convention (website).
We thank the experts who took part in the identification of the Caspian IMMAs at the 7th International IMMA Workshop organised by the IUCN Task Force in February, 2021, and in the preparation of justification materials for awarding the endangered Caspian seal habitat the IMMA status.