Tero Harkonen,^* Mart Jüssi,^** Mirgaly Baimukanov,^*** Anders Bignert,^**** Lilia Dmitrieva,^***** Yesbol Kasimbekov,^****** Mikhail Verevkin,^******* Susan Wilson,^******** Simon J. Goodman<sup>*********


*</sup>Tero Härkönen, PhD, Associate Professor, has a research position at the Swedish Museum of Natural History. He has been, or is running projects on marine mammals in the Baltic, Greenland, the Antarctic and the Caspian Sea, and is currently engaged in establishing conservation and management plans for all Baltic seal species through work within HELCOM and the ICES. His address: Swedish Museum of Natural History, Box 50007, S-104 05 Stockholm Sweden. Tero.Harkonen@nrm.se
^**Mart Jüssi, MSci, started modern seal research in Estonia, and is engaged in several projects including EU-Life and the Caspian seal project, focussed on research and conservation of biodiversity. He has worked for prolonged periods at the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute and the Sea Mammal Research Institute in the UK. His address: Estonian Fund for Nature, PO Box 245, Tartu, Estonia EE 50002. mart.jussi@gmail.com
^***Mirgaly Baimukanov, PhD, is director of the Institute of Hydrobiology and Ecology, Almaty. His scientific interests are population biology of water animals and development of the Protected Areas network for rare and endangered species as well as protection of water ecosystems. His address: Fisheries Research Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Sujunbaja prospect, 89a, Almaty, 480016, Republic of Kazakhstan. mirgaliy@mail.ru
^****Anders Bignert, PhD, is a Senior Scientist at the Swedish Museum of Natural History. His research is focussed on statistical analyses of trends in concentrations of ecotoxic substances in the Baltic Biota. His address: Swedish Museum of Natural History, Box 50007, S-104 05 Stockholm Sweden. Anders.Bignert@nrm.se
^*****Lilia Dmitrieva, MSci The research activities of Lilia Dmitrieva are focused on the impact of human activities on marine mammals especially land locked species of ringed seals and Caspian seals. Her address: St. Petersburg Naturalist Society, Universitetskaya emb. 7/9, St. Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation. sealilia@gmail.com
^******Yesbol Kasimbekov, MSci, is the Caspian seal specialist at the Fisheries Research Center. His interests include the ecology of key fish and mammal species in Kazakhstan. His address: Fisheries Research Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Sujunbaja prospect, 89a, Almaty, 480016, Republic of Kazakhstan. npcrh@itte.kz
^*******Mikhail Verevkin, MSci, is Senior scientist at the Laboratory of Vertebrate Zoology at the Biological Institute of St. Petersburg State University. His research interests encompass the distribution, structure and dynamics of seals populations, especially anthropogenic impacts on ice breeding seals. He is the coordinator of investigations in the Ladoga Lake and the Russian part of the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea. His address: 199034 Universitetskaya emb. 7/9 St. Petersburg State University, Baltic Fund for Nature, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation. vermiv@TV9311.spb.edu
^********Susan Wilson, PhD, is a consultant in seal conservation biology. Her research interests focus on behavioural ecology, including reproductive behavior and pup development. Her address: Tara Seal Research, 14 Bridge Street, Killyleagh, Co. Down BT30 9QN, N. Ireland, UK. suewilson@sealresearch.org
^*********Simon Goodman, PhD, is a lecturer in evolutionary biology at the University of Leeds. His research interests span conservation biology, particularly with regard to the impact of wildlife diseases, and population genetics. His address: Institute of Integrative and Comparative Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK. s.j.goodman@leeds.ac.uk