In Dalian, protected spotted seals thrive

A video produced by institutions in Dalian, Liaoning province, aims to increase public awareness about the need to protect spotted seals, the only pinniped species that breeds naturally in Chinese waters.

The production team from Dalian News Media Group and the Liaoning Ocean and Fisheries Science Research Institute and other local institutions combines a large number of precious footage of wild spotted seals at the Spotted Seal National Nature Reserve in Dalian, which covers 5,600 square kilometers.

Spotted seals are national first-class protected animals in China. Every October, they return from Russia, Japan, the Republic of Korea and other countries and regions to their home habitat in the Bohai Sea's Liaodong Bay.

Each year from January to March, about 200 seals are born in the frozen area of the bay.

According to the Liaoning research institute, the number of spotted seals has been increasing in recent years. It has monitored about 400 animals that returned to Dalian. The total number is about 2,000 in the Bohai Sea and the northern part of the Yellow Sea.

In 1992, Dalian created a city-level reserve for spotted seals. Over the past three decades, 384 spotted seals were rescued in Dalian. The survival rate is more than 80 percent.

Video by Dalian News Media Group.