Management of Caspian Biodiversity Protection and Conservation

Differential impact of anthropogenic pressures on Caspian Sea ecoregions

“…For example, registered sturgeon catches peaked in the late 1980's. A few years later, the fishing fleet was largely dismantled and anglers started to harvest sturgeons without formal regulation (Khodorevskaya et al, 2014;Mammadov et al, 2016;Strukova et al, 2016). Our results indicate that poaching is still a major concern (Fig.…”

“…However, over the last decades, many of its unique species assemblages have increasingly suffered from environmental (e.g., water-level fluctuations, salinity changes) and anthropogenic pressures (e.g., oil extraction, overfishing, introduction of invasive species). As a consequence, the overall ecosystem health has deteriorated and many endemic species have become regionally or globally extinct (Dumont, 1995;Karpinsky, 2005;Zonn, 2005;Zarbaliyeva et al, 2016;Mammadov et al, 2016;Wesselingh et al, 2019).…”

“…Unfortunately, our knowledge about the impact of environmental and anthropogenic factors on the native biodiversity in the Caspian Sea is largely biased towards few key stressors related to natural water-level fluctuations and human activities, such as fishery and mineral extraction (Malinovskaja et al, 1998;Agah et al, 2007;Zinchenko, 2010, 2011;Khodorevskaya et al, 2014;Yanina, 2014;Latypov, 2015;Mammadov et al, 2016;Poorbagher et al, 2017). Moreover, most previous human impact studies in the Caspian Sea are restricted to coastal areas (Nasrabadi et al, 2011;Aliyeva et al, 2013;Bastami et al, 2014), individual countries (Aliyeva et al, 2013;Dmitrieva et al, 2013;Bastami et al, 2014;Yancheshmeh et al, 2014;Mashroofeh et al, 2015;Varnosfaderany et al, 2015) or selected target species (Bickham et al, 1998;Agah et al, 2007;Dmitrieva et al, 2013;Ermolin and Svolkinas, 2016;Poorbagher et al, 2017).…”

Stakeholder consensus suggests strategies to promote sustainability in an artisanal fishery with high rates of poaching and marine mammal bycatch

“…This study builds on others from the broader Caspian region, where unsustainable fishing and hunting is driven by a combination of illegal trade (Dmitrieva et al, 2013; Ermolin & Svolkinas, 2016; Kühl et al, 2009; Sokolsky et al, 2008); poor awareness of sustainability and conservation issues (Mammadov et al, 2016); weak and failing governance (Lagutov & Lagutov, 2009; Schmidt et al, 2017); and the historical absences of protections for key species and habitats in southern Russia (Pryde, 1997), compared to better managed regions of the Arctic regions and Siberia (Solovyev et al, 2017). Our study strengthens understanding around community motivation for involvement in a key illegal wildlife trade in Russia, and what incentives could influence disengagement, or transitions to more sustainable fishery practices.…”

“…Within the Caspian Sea, fisheries are severely depleted due to a history of overharvesting and loss of fish spawning grounds due to dam building and other infrastructure development (Harkonen et al, 2012; Lagutov & Lagutov, 2009; Strukova et al, 2016). These declines have been exacerbated by weakened environmental governance and economic collapse stemming from the breakup of the Soviet Union in the 1990s (Caspian Environment Programme, 2002; Mammadov et al, 2016; Raymakers, 2002).…”