Caspian Sea Marine Life Restoration Project

The Caspian Sea in central Asia is the world’s largest inland body of water, and sits on enough natural gas to fuel the UK at its current consumption for 32 million years. A further 48 billion barrels of oil lie untapped beneath the seabed. Set on top of such an economically valuable resource, the fragile Caspian marine environment – with its endemic species of sturgeon, salmon, seal, kutum, kilka anchovy and lamprey – is particularly vulnerable. 

As these hydrocarbons are pumped to the surface and burned, CO2 is released into the atmosphere, the planet gets warmer and fresh water becomes scarcer in this region. This leads to the construction of river dams to control water flow. They prevent many of these rare, migratory species from reaching their upper-river spawning grounds. As the northern Caspian sea-ice melts, endangered Caspian seals lose their essential birthing ice-fields.  

The Caspian is home to six species of endemic sturgeon, a fish that dates back 250 million years to the era of the dinosaurs. They are all Critical Endangered, as the dams block their migration, systematic poaching reduces stocks further, climate change alters river flow and pollution has disrupted the food chain.   

To tackle these problems Blue Marine Foundation (Blue Marine) has been working with local a NGO called IDEA to build a partnership between government, charities and local communities. In 2018, the first ever Marine Protected Area in the Caspian Sea, Gizilagaj MPA, was designated near the mouth of the Kura River. The MPA provides a sanctuary for sub-adult sturgeon and diverse Caspian marine creatures. In 2019, it was made a Mission Blue Hope Spot, a designation given to places that are scientifically identified as critical to the ocean´s health. 

Our teams are also using innovative environmental DNA sampling to identify areas still frequented by endangered marine species. A countrywide ban on gill-nets has seen thousands removed from rivers, reducing poaching and accidental bycatch of migratory fish. As protection increases and habitats are restored, the balance may be tipping in favour of these ‘dinosaur fish’ and other nomadic marine life.