Sharjah24 – AFP: The serene, icy waters of Finland's Lake Saimaa are a boon to fishermen and tourists, but their presence also threatens one of the world's rarest and most endangered seals.
Despite seeing numbers recover in recent decades, the Saimaa ringed seal still faces extinction amid climate change and die-hard fishing habits.
Out on Saimaa, a dark grey, whiskered creature pops its head up and breaks the surface in Finland's lake district, close to the Russian border.
"That's Eeva, she's not swimming away because we've known each other for almost 30 years," smiles Risto Eronen, a retiree who since childhood has closely watched the seals, which are found only in the lake's fresh water.
The population of 'saimaannorppa', as the mammal is called in Finnish, reached 400 this year -- four times more than in the 1980s when it was expected to die out completely.
But this is still nowhere near enough to ensure the subspecies' survival, campaigners say.
But the most acute danger for the seal, according to campaigners, is fishing for vendace, a small whitefish and a summertime delicacy -- with four to eight seal pups dying annually, caught in the nets.
By mid-June, the seals have all left their rocky breeding spots for the depths of the lake, except for Eeva, who prefers the surface and is recognisable by her unusual bark.
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