Iraj Roghanchi started his 7th tour of over 1,200km on August 12 with the theme of “Supporting Caspian Seals.” At the end of the journey, pro-environment cyclist, a teacher and a trainer in Iran Mountaineering Federation arrived in Bandar Turkmen to highlight the protection of this species. Department of Environment Deputy-head for Marine Affairs Parvin Farshchi praised the attempts of this cyclist, adding that not all people would make such an endeavor to show their support for environment.
He dubbed Roghanchi’s venture as the ambassador of environment, Parvin Farshchi said he had proved his friendship with environment before; “I hope that the public culture on environment would be promoted throughout the country,” she said.
Farshchi pointed to agreements signed between Iran and the neighboring countries on Caspian Sea; “the provisions of agreements are all about fishing plans and the protection of the environment has not been allocated a place,” she lamented.
Warning all the countries around the Caspian Sea about the population of the seals as the only mammal in this Sea which has been declined from a million to less than 100 thousand during the past half century, she underlined that this species is used for domestic consumption in countries like Russia and Kazakhstan.
Davoud Mirshekar, General Director of the Department of Environment Marine Ecosystems, said that the lack of sufficient information about the species was rampant. NGOs from five Caspian littoral countries, including Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have come together and decided to monitor Caspian seals, Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported.
He further mentioned that monitoring and census required a scientific program; “consequently, Caspian Seals Research Center in the Netherlands has a mission to send program to the Department of Environment and Turkmenistan will announce its monitoring spots. Therefore, after assessing the expenses as well as the human resources, the program would be operational if only the funding is provided,” Mirshekar told the press.