OREANDA-NEWS. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the brand Kinder (group of companies Ferrero) are launching a joint environmental project. It aims to restore the population of sea otters and sea lions living along the southeastern coast of Kamchatka Peninsula and on the northern islands of the Kurils.

Zoologists will conduct several scientific expeditions to find out the reasons for the decline in the mammal population, as well as to develop measures to combat the degradation of marine ecosystems in the region.

According to the coordinator of the WWF-Russia Sustainable Marine Fisheries Programme, Sergey Korostelyov, the number of animals decreased from 15 thousand in 2003 to 5 thousand in 2008–2009. In 2017, the WWF estimated that their population had declined by more than 70 % compared to 2008. “Such a catastrophic situation, in all probability, is the result of the cumulative effect of a combination of several negative factors. The exact reasons for the decline in number are to be found out during scientific expeditions,” the expert said.