Society

Calmer waters ahead for seals

By Cang Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-04-11 08:00

BEIJING - Governments at all levels are working closely with environmental organizations to step up efforts to protect endangered spotted seals.

The push has caused development projects to be shelved or altered to ensure seals are not negatively impacted.

An example of such a decision came in March when a planned highway in North China's Liaoning province that was to have cut through a local conservation area was suspended so more consultation could be carried out to ensure seals would not be harmed.

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"The suspension was welcomed by animal rights activists," said Tian Jiguang, head of the Panjin Spotted Seal Protection Volunteer Association in Liaoning.

Tian said at a seminar on the protection of the species held last week that the move showed the government is listening to groups that want to see seals thrive.

"It reveals the growing impact of environmental organizations on government decisions."

The planned 15-kilometer stretch of the Binhai Highway was important for the economic development of Liaoning province but Tian's association launched an online campaign pointing out that the conservation area must continue to be protected.

"A black-mouth gull protection volunteer association in Panjin managed to get the local government there to change the route of a road to avoid crossing the gulls' natural habitat in 2007," Tian said. "This gave us the confidence to believe that we could do the same by expressing our opinion."

To protect spotted seals, China has formalized three conservation areas, in Liaodong Bay, Dalian city and Shandong province, said Han Jiabo, vice-director of the Liaoning Ocean and Fisheries Research Institute.

And the Ministry of Agriculture, the State Oceanic Administration and the fisheries departments in China have worked out relative regulations or scientific research programs to protect this endangered species, Han said.

"Molecular biological evidence proves that spotted seals in China's Liaodong Bay are different to those inhabiting the Seas of Japan and Okhotsk," said Han. "We estimate that the country now has a population of approximately 2,000 seals."

The number of spotted seals has declined because of environmental degradation, pollution, over-hunting, human interference, offshore oil drilling and increasing shipping, said Zhang Jinshuo, a researcher from the Institute of Zoology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"In 2006, we found around 1,200 spotted seals in China, and one year later only 890 were observed during a nationwide investigation," Han said.

As an endangered species, spotted seals are listed as a national grade II animal for key protection in China and animal protection activists are trying to get them even more protection.

"The government and environmental protection organizations should work together and harder to conserve spotted seals," said Qin Xiaona, director of the Capital Animal Welfare Association.

"More environmental protection activists need to be included in investigations into the Binhai highway's feasibility," she added.

In March, two spotted seal cubs that got into difficulty in the cities of Xingcheng and Panjin, both in Liaoning province, were rescued by ocean parks authorities, fishery authorities and the police and are being rehabilitated.