Over 100 Dead Seals Found on Kazakhstan’s Caspian Coast

More than 100 dead Caspian seals have been found in Kazakhstan’s sector of the Caspian Sea, according to the press service of the Department of Ecology of the Mangystau Region. Environmental experts have taken water samples to investigate the causes of the animals’ deaths.

"Together with the regional fish inspection department, during monitoring of the coastal line of the Tupkaragan District from the village of Asan to Cape Bautino, 112 carcasses of Caspian seals were discovered," the department said in a statement.

Ecologists collected sea water samples near the settlements of Fort-Shevchenko and Bautino in the Tupkaragan District to help determine why the animals died.

Recurring Ecological Tragedy on the Caspian Sea

In November 2024, specialists from Kazakhstan’s Institute of Hydrobiology and Ecology reported finding 420 dead seals along the Caspian coast between September 27 and November 5. According to experts, the deaths coincided with the seals’ migration to the northern Caspian for breeding — a period when mass die-offs are often observed.

Experts explained that the causes of such incidents may be both natural — including earthquakes or gas emissions — and man-made, such as sea pollution or infectious diseases.