The rare Saimaa ringed seal, which lives only in Finland and whose population is estimated at just 260, is increasingly threatened by fishermen's nets and the melting of its icy habitat due to climate change, experts say.

The seal lives only in Finland's biggest lake, Lake Saimaa, in the eastern part of the country. It is a subspecies of the ringed seal that became a fresh water mammal some 9,500 years ago when ice melted after the ice age and it became trapped in the lake.

The rare Saimaa ringed seal, seen here, which lives only in Finland and whose population is estimated at just 260, is increasingly threatened by fishermen's nets and the melting of its icy habitat due to climate change, experts say. [China Daily via Agencies]

It has suffered from man's actions, in the form of pollution in the 1960s and the 1970s, and more recently from warmer winters and fishing.

Calving seals use snow to build a protective lair on the ice for their pups, which are born at the end of February or in early March.

"During the last three winters the ice and snow have come late or the snow has melted early, so seals have not been able to build lairs and the pups have remained without the protection of a lair," Jari Luukkonen, conservation director at WWF Finland, told AFP.

This has resulted in many cubs dying soon after birth and the population has started to fall.

Nets from sports fishermen are another death trap for the young cubs as they learn to catch their own food.

Statistics by state agency Metsaehallitus show the seal population increased from 189 in 1990 to 280 in 2005, but it has gradually fallen to around 260 in the past few years, a declining trend that conservationists have concerned.

According to stock estimates, some 50 to 60 pups are born annually, but up to 30 percent of them die during the first year.

"Getting entangled in fishing nets is the biggest single cause of death brought on by man. If we get rid of that, the Saimaa seal could probably survive the climate change," Luukkonen said.

A temporary law on fishing restrictions in Lake Saimaa is due to be renewed in May 2009 and a working group set up by the ministry of agriculture and forestry is currently discussing how the legislation should be tweaked.

"When we were reviewing the law last time it became clear that nature conservationists considered the restrictions insufficient, while fishermen said they were too harsh," said Roni Selen, a senior officer at the ministry of agriculture and forestry.

But he added that there was pressure to tighten restrictions because it was likely the European Union would look more closely at Finland's measures to protect its endangered seal.

"If that happens, we might get more pressure and sanctions from Brussels."

Landowners bordering the lake also own part of the waters by law, and although there are large conservation areas in Lake Saimaa, not all private landowners want to change their fishing habits for the sake of the seal.

WWF has since 1979 raised awareness about Saimaa seal conservation and last spring the organisation, together with the government and fishing associations, urged people to avoid using fishing nets from mid-April to mid-June when the young pups are learning to swim, dive, catch fish and survive on their own.

Meanwhile, the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation has offered fishermen the possibility to swap nets for fish traps, which are safer for the seals.

But biologist Tero Sipilae said land and water owners were not willing to increase the seal protection areas in the lake.

"The regions where the seal pups are born should be fishing net free by law," insisted Sipilae, who works for Metsaehallitus, a state agency that administers state-owned land and water areas.

He said reducing the deaths of seal pups would boost the stocks as there would be more fertile seals.

"With the current half-way measures, the Saimaa seal will slowly become extinct," Sipilae noted.

However, it is not professional fishers who use nets, but local or summer residents who put their nets in the seals' waters.

"We prefer voluntary means instead of restrictions by law. Net fishing continues to decrease as those who use that method are getting old," Vesa Karttunen from the Federation of Finnish Fisheries Association said.

But professional fisherman Niko Ovaska from Savonlinna said efforts to protect the Saimaa seal had not impacted his profession. And he said he liked the seals, which he sees almost every time he goes trawling.

"Of course it is two-sided affair, if fishing is restricted. But we have to remember the seal will become extinct if we don't do something."

"We have to weigh which is more important, protecting the seal from extinction or people's leisure time fishing," Ovaska said.

(China Daily via Agencies October 29, 2008)