Highly-endangered ringed seal drowns in fishing net in eastern Finland
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Loading... - Farida Jabrane
- 17 Oct 2022
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A male pup of the highly-endangered Saimaa ringed seal species became entangled in a fishing net and drowned near the city of Savonlinna in the southeast of Finland.
A fisherman informed Finland's parks and wildlife agency Metsähallitus of the death on Friday evening.
According to the agency, the pup was likely born last winter as it was one metre in length and weighed about 28 kilos.
The seal was recovered from the scene and an autopsy will be carried out by the Finnish Food Safety Authority.
The fisherman's five-metre-high net was in about 20 metres of water, and had a knot spacing of 50 mm and wire thickness of 0.17 mm. In a statement, Metsähallitus said the fisherman regretted what had happened and has decided to remove his nets from the Saimaa Lake region, at least for this autumn.
Tighter restrictions on the use of fishing nets in the Saimaa lake region had been having a positive impact on efforts to protect and replenish the population of Saimaa ringed seals, one of the world's most highly-endangered seal species. Read More...
