Korea's oceans ministry has built an artificial habitat for endangered spotted seals.<br />The ministry and local residents of Baengnyeong-do Island hope the habitat will serve as a comfortable resting spot for the seals and help preserve the species.<br />Park Se-young has more. <br />After giving birth to pups around northeast China in the winter, spotted seals spend the spring and summer near Korea's Baengnyeong-do Island.<br />Spotted seals need to spend time on land to adjust their body temperature and regain strength.<br />Every year, more than 300 seals scramble for a spot on the rocks of Baengnyeong-do Island.<br />This is why the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries has built a 350-square-meter artificial resting area for them.<br />"Since the Mulbeom Rock is not big enough for the population, younger seals are found near the artificial resting ground."<br />The residents of Baengnyeong-do Island welcome the new habitat for the seals, …which are considered the island's mascots.<br />"As students and local residents, we will monitor the habitat and study not only seals, but also the rockfish and spotty belly greenling which seals eat."<br />Spotted seals grow to an average length of one-point-five meters, weighing between 80 and 130 kilograms.<br />The seal population in the Yellow Sea has declined from roughly eight thousand seals in the 1940s to an estimated 12-hundred seals by the 2000s, ..due to overhunting for leather and to be used in medicines.<br />The oceans ministry has asked local residents to keep a close eye on the seals and help protect them.<br />Park Se-young, Arirang News. <br />
