Mr Potyelov returned last week from an aerial survey of the White Sea northwest of Archangel, which he said had shown thousands of newborn seal litters stranded on the shores of the Kandalakshskaya and Dvinskaya Gulfs with no hope of reaching food. In a normal year the baby seals would spend six weeks drifting northeast on floating pack ice out of the White Sea, starting in early March. During the annual migration the pups are usually fed by their mothers until their pelts change from white to grey, a signal that they are strong enough to swim and to feed themselves. This year abnormal northerly winds had created an icy bottleneck at the northern entrance to the White Sea, Mr Potyelov said. Wildlife groups were sceptical.
Governments routinely say there are too many seals eating too many fish.
Up to 20,000 Greenland seals born in the White Sea are expected to be slaughtered this year with the approval of the Russian Government. Ths website is designed and maintained in cooperation with HelpForMyWebsite.