Editing Baikal seal (section)

==Relation to humans and conservation==
[[Image:Nerpa festival.JPG|thumb|A Baikal seal mascot at the Nerpa Festival in [[Irkutsk]]]]
Since 2008, the Baikal seal has been listed as a [[Least Concern]] species on the [[IUCN Red List]].<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021" /> This means that they are not currently [[threatened]] or [[endangered]]. In 1994, the Russian government estimated that they numbered 104,000. In 2000, [[Greenpeace]] performed its own count and found an estimated 55,000 to 65,000 seals.<ref name=Schofield2001/> The most recent estimates are 80,000–100,000 animals, roughly equaling the carrying capacity of the lake.<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021" />

In the last century, the kill quota for hunting Baikal seals was raised several times,{{When|date=May 2025}} most notably after the [[fur]] industry boomed in the late 1970s and when official counts began indicating more Baikal seals were present than previously known.<ref name=Pastukhov/> The quota in 1999, 6,000, was lowered in 2000 to 3,500, which was still nearly 5% of the population; if the Greenpeace count is correct.<ref name=SCS/> In 2013–2014, the hunting quota was set at 2,500.<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021" /> In addition, new techniques, such as netting breathing holes and seal dens to catch pups, have been introduced. In 2001, a prime seal pelt would bring 1,000 [[Russian ruble|ruble]]s at market.<ref name=Schofield2001/> In 2004–2006, about 2,000 seals were killed per year according to official Russian statistics, but in the same period another 1,500–4,000 are thought to have died annually due to drowning in fishing gear, poaching, and the like.<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021" /> In 2012–2013, it was estimated that 2,300–2,800 were hunted per year (combined legal hunting and poaching).<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021" /> Some groups have pressured for higher hunting quotas.<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021" />
[[File:Baikal seal 1.jpg|thumb|left|In the Baikal Museum, [[Listvyanka, Irkutsky District, Irkutsk Oblast|Listvyanka]]]]
Another problem at Lake Baikal is the [[Water pollution|introduction of pollutants]] into the ecosystem;[[pesticides]] such as [[DDT]] and [[hexachlorocyclohexane]], as well as [[industrial waste]], mainly from the Baikalisk [[pulp and paper]] plant, are thought to have exacerbated several disease epidemics among Baikal seal populations. The chemicals are speculated to [[Bioaccumulation|concentrate up]] the [[food chain]] and weaken the Baikal seal's immune system, making them susceptible to diseases such as [[canine distemper]] and [[Yersinia pestis|the plague]], which was the cause of a serious Baikal seal mortality event that killed 5,000–6,500 animals in 1987–1988.<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021" /><ref name=SCS/> Small numbers died as recently as 2000, but the reason for their deaths is unclear.<ref name=SCS/> Canine distemper is still present in the Baikal seal population, but has not caused mass deaths since the earlier outbreaks.<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021" /> In general, levels of DDT and non-ortho [[Polychlorinated biphenyl|PCB]] have declined in the lake from the 1990s, levels of mono-ortho PCB are unchanged, and the level of [[perfluorochemical]]s have increased. At present, Baikal seals show lower levels of contaminants than seals of Europe and North America, but higher than those in the Arctic. Industrialization of the area near Lake Baikal is increasing and future monitoring is necessary.<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021" />

The most serious future threat to the survival of the seal may be [[global warming]], which has the potential to seriously affect a closed cold-water ecosystem such as that of Lake Baikal.<ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021" />