Caspian Sea: State of the Environment 2019

A draft Programme for the Development of the System of Protected Areas in Turkmenistan cov- ering the period up to 2030 was developed in 2014 (UNDP Turkmenistan 2010). Under the programme, protected areas will be expanded to cover 3,525,856 ha, which is more than 7 per cent of the country’s territory, including assigning a status to new sites: UNESCO World Heritage sites, national parks, biosphere reserves, key or- nithological territories, wetlands to be protected in accordance with the Ramsar Convention and ecological corridors. In 2017, under the Convention on Biological Di- versity, the following Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs) were identi- fied and designated to improve the protection and sustainable use of marine protected areas in the Turkmenistan sector of the Caspian Sea: the Turkmenbashi Gulf, the Turkmen Gulf and the Kara-Bogaz-Gol Strait. In addition, the trans- boundary Miankala-Esenguly region was desig- nated in cooperation with Iranian colleagues In accordance with the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Convention), the Turkmenbashi Gulf in the Hazar State Nature Reserve is recognized as

being of international significance. It covers an area of 267,124 ha. The gulf is traditionally used by many wetland birds for wintering and nesting and 72 per cent of the reserve is designated as a key ornithological territory of Turkmenistan. There is a separate inter-State agreement on the protection of African-Eurasian migratory water- birds under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (UNEP/ AEWA Secretariat 1979). The agreement covers 235 species of birds, whose existence depends on the availability of wetlands during a certain period of their life cycle. Turkmenistan is taking measures to promote the conservation of wet- land birds as part of international cooperation efforts in accordance with the action plan. Taxa whose representatives are able to with- stand significant fluctuations in seawater salinity demonstrate the greatest species diversity, while a high degree of endemism and relict biota (at least 40 per cent of species found in the Caspian Sea are endemic) reflect the long-term isolation of the Caspian. 5.5.2. Species

Table 5.14: Fish species included in the Azerbaijan Red Book (Redlist Committee of Azerbaijan 2013).

Scientific (Latin) name

Name in English

Acipenser nudiventris (Lovetsky, 1828)

Ship sturgeon

Salmo trutta caspius (Kessler, 1870)

Caspian brown trout

Salmo trutta fario (Linneus, 1758)

River trout

Rutilus atropatenus (Derjavin, 1937)

Shirvan roach

Luciobarbus capito (Güldenstaedt, 1773)

Bulatmai barbel

Luciobarbus brachycephalus caspius (Berg, 1914)

Aral barbel

Abramis sapa bergi (Belyaeff, 1929)

Southern Caspian white-eye bream

Pelecus cultratus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Sabrefish

Sander marinus (Cuvier, 1828)

Estuarine perch

Source: Azerbaijan Scientific-Research Fisheries Institute

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