In September 2020, another scientific expedition was carried out. Survey area Komsomolets Bay, Durnev Islands.

The purpose of the scientific expedition is to assess the current state of the Caspian seal population in the Kazakh part of the Caspian Sea.

During the expedition, about 1000 seals were found on the Durnev Islands. On one rookery there are about 800, on the other about 200 seals. Seals were also found along the way.

7 seals were caught, one was in serious condition, there was a fishing net on its neck, the age of the seal is less than a year. The kid was freed from the nets, the necessary veterinary care was provided. The rest of the seals were also helped, bioassays were taken.

Tags were also attached to the seals.

Watch the video of this expedition here.

This third expedition continued to build on important data already collected. Expeditions continue to be conducted annually to monitor seal populations in order to better understand the factors affecting population decline and to help guide the use of recommendations for the protection of this species.

You can watch the video of the expedition here.

The purpose of this expedition was to observe the seal population in the North Caspian and study the environment. On Kulaly Island, where previously there were large numbers of seals outside the breeding season, the team found only carcasses.

In the Kenderli area, a former Caspian seal rookery, no evidence of the presence of seals has been found. After investigating, the team found that no seals had been seen in the area in the past 4-5 years, not since construction of the Kenderli Resort (a tourism project) began in 2015.

It was after this second expedition that Asel Tasmagambetova decided that more needed to be done to protect the Caspian seal.

Watch the video of this expedition here.

In February 2017, CSRRC founder Asel Tasmagambetova organized the first expedition to the Caspian Sea to study the habitat of the Caspian seal and how pollution is damaging the environment.

During the expedition, which focused on the Kalamkas field, researchers from the Central Asian Institute for Environmental Research (Kazakhstan) took environmental samples (water, snow and silt) and sent them to the laboratory of the Central Asian Institute of Environmental Research. Center for Environmental Research and Independent Analytics in France for chemical analysis.

The results of the analysis showed oil contamination of the water in all samples, in addition, the samples showed that the levels of vanadium and beryllium (two toxic elements) exceeded the permissible concentration levels, which potentially poses a danger to wildlife in the area.

Watch a video of this expedition here and view the results here.