A total of 23 spotted seals (斑海豹) were put back into the waters off the coast of Dalian in Northeast China's Liaoning Province on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023 as part of China's continuous efforts to protect endangered wildlife.
The seals were hunted and sold, but have now been saved and marked for future protection. A fishery law enforcement ship arrived at the sea area near Dalian in the morning, carrying the spotted seals. The seals were let go free one by one into the sea. They swam freely in the water, returning to their natural home.
Spotted seals are nationally protected animals in China. They are the only kind of seals that can breed (繁殖) in Chinese waters. Like migratory (迁徙的) birds, they appear around October every year in Liaodong Bay, and take the long journey back to the Northwest Pacific in May after breeding. They are often considered as the "panda of the sea".
Thanks to China's top-class national protection in recent years, the population of spotted seals in Chinese waters has reached around 2,000, while the global population is between 400,000 and 600,000. Studies have shown that these 2,000 spotted seals are of great importance for the study and research on spotted seals.
To protect this rare animal and its ecological environment, the Liaoning Dalian Spotted Seal Wetlands were set up in 1992. In January 2002, they were included in the List of Wetlands of International Importance. Covering an area of 560,000 hectares with a coastline of about 370 kilometers, the wetlands are rich in biological resources. They have become home to nationally protected animals such as the spotted seal, finless porpoise, killer whales, false killer whales, common dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, and East Asian river dolphins.
Since 1992, researchers in Dalian have successfully saved 388 spotted seals and put 299 of them back into the wild.
