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In 2008 Harp Seals gave birth to three times less pups then in previous years |
 Greycoat Harp Seal  WWF considers that the most severe threat to Harp Seals comes with the climate change, and not with the harvesting. However the impact of commercial harvest on species population should also be thoroughly assessed. In the new version of the Rules on Fisheries for the Northern basin, that were registered by the Russian Ministry of Justice on February 16th, 2009, taking of newly bord seal pups – whitecoats – as well as taking of females at the rookeries where they give birth is forbidden, and the harvests of young seals - greycoat Harp Seals - is restricted in timing. WWF considers that in order to secure the state of Harp Seal population the decision should be taken officially at the federal level on whether at all the harvests of this species are still acceptable given the data on population state and population number dynamics of the species in the Eastern Atlantics. According to WWF the largest negative impact on Harp Seal population is currently caused by the climate change. Since the end of 1990s there is a steady trend that the area of solid ice fields, which are suitable for so called “birth rookeries” (kind of delivery houses) of Harp Seals reduce each year. Simultaneously the changes in ice regime of the White Sea are progressing, large areas remain ice-free, thus leading to Harp Seal population decline. According to the aerial counts of 2008 the number of pups born this year is three times lower than in the previous years. Climate change led to one other threat being renewed. As the ice cover in the White Sea reduces, it becomes possible that ice-resistant vessels move in winter in the White Sea without being escorted all the time by ice-breakers. “It often happens that tankers cross ice-fields with Harp Seal birth rookeries; it is estimated by Polar Fisheries Research Institute (PINRO) that at least five thousand whitecoat pups are killed each season as a result of this tanker movements across ice fields”, - says Vassily Spiridonov, WWF Russia Marine Projects Coordinator. This week WWF wrote and sent the letter to Russian Minister of Transport Mr. Igor E. Levitin, suggesting in it that the emerging problem should be solved by reintroduction and re-enforcement of the “Instructions on transportation vessels' movements in the White Sea during the periods of Harp Seal and Ringed Seal rookeries' that were adopted by the USSR Ministry of Marine Transport in 1979; the document regulations have to be updated taking into account the most recent data.
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