OREANDA-NEWS. October 02, 2014. NK Rosneft took part in VIII Marine Mammals of Holarctic international conference, which was held in Saint-Petersburg.

The Company’s representatives made a report on RN-Shelf-Arctic’s experience in implementing marine animals protection plans during geological survey in the Barents Sea.

The report included methods used by the Company in the course of seismic data acquisition, while doing monitoring of marine animals and basic measures to reduce the influence on them. Moreover, the results of Rosneft monitoring in the area of South-Russky licensed site in 2013 were summarized briefly.

As a part of the report disputing, a discussion with representatives of scientific society took place. In particular, the efficiency of new measures and new methods of marine animals monitoring which could be used by the Company in its future Arctic offshore projects was discussed.

The shelf projects are the strategic direction of NK Rosneft activity. The work in this little-studied area is accompanied with deep scientific activity, Rosneft has already organized a series of scientific research expeditions. The special attention is paid to biologic research, including marine animals and birds habitat monitoring. The priority task in this trend is comprehensive research of polar bears as well as preservation and protection of this population. NK Rosneft took under its control all the polar bears kept in Russian zoos. The programs on study of 3 Russian subpopulations of this species are performed with the Company’s support.

The representatives of Saint-Petersburg administration, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Russia, P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of ecology and evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Interdepartmental Ichthyologic Commission, and International Society on Marine Mammals Studies also participated in the conference.

The special attention of the participants was paid to the issues of population biology, estimate of abundance and monitoring, behavior and acoustics, rehabilitation of mammals, ecology (nutrition, distribution, inhabitants and migration), as well as measures on protecting marine mammals of the Northern hemisphere.

According to the results of the conference, a monograph will be published, which will become the most profound collection of data on state of Holarctic marine mammals populations.