Protection of Saimaa ringed seal puts shoreline construction under closer scrutiny

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Construction along the shores of the Saimaa waterway will come under closer scrutiny, as it has become an increasing threat to the endangered Saimaa ringed seal (Pusa hispida saimensis).
      A summer cottage on the shore will not disturb the seals very much, but moving about on the winter ice could interfere with their nesting at the time when the seals usually have their young.
      The Ministry of the Environment says that construction permits need to be considered more carefully than before. Keeping tabs on construction is a part of the seal protection strategy that the ministry made public on Thursday.
     
The aim is to increase the population of the Saimaa ringed seal to 400 from the current approximately 270 by 2025.
      The habitat of the Saimaa ringed seal has been taken into consideration in zoning decisions before, but the expansion of the habitat means that municipalities should reconsider permits for holiday homes.
      “The goal is to get the population to increase in all of the places where the seals live. Then these conflicts will be more frequent”, says biologist Arto Ustinov of the South Savo Centre for Economic Development, Transport, and the Environment.
     
No new radical means for protection are on offer.
      “Mortality caused by fishing is in a key position”, says Director-General Timo Tanninen of the Ministry of the Environment.
      Voluntary bans on fishnets in the seals’ habitat are in force in the spring and early summer. A decree shoring up gaps in the area affected was to have taken effect today, Friday.
      However, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has not brought the matter before the government, because it is still under preparation.
     
Environmental groups welcome the strategy, but there are some reservations in the Saimaa region itself.
      “From the point of view of fishing, no further clampdowns in protection are possible”, says professional fisherman Jari Häkkinen in Taipalsaari.
      Häkkinen heads the Kyläniemi fishing partnership, which is one of the largest in the Saimaa area.
      The partnership was among the first to agree to restrictions in net fishing, even though it meant that Häkkinen will have to stop fishing in a couple of weeks.
      “We felt that it was the lesser of evils”, he says.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Modest recovery in Saimaa ringed seal population (11.11.2010)
  European Commission prepared to bring Finland to court over protection of Saimaa seals (6.5.2010)
  Researchers pile snow for use as nests by endangered Saimaa ringed seals (8.1.2010)
  Saimaa ringed seal extinction likely without massive conservation measures (17.2.2009)

Links:
  Saimaa Ringed Seal (Wikipedia)

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