Ukraine, Japan and the Netherlands will assess the consequences of the fuel oil leak from Russian tankers

Ecologists will work on a model that will help assess the scale of pollution and its long-term consequences for the Black Sea ecosystem.

An analysis of the situation with the leak of fuel oil from Russian tankers into the Black Sea is underway in Odesa. An international group of experts is currently being formed under the auspices of the UN, which will be joined by specialists from the Netherlands, Japan and Ukraine, writes Ukrinform.

“Experts will develop a model that will allow us to predict the movement of fuel oil and its impact on the ecosystem. We will find out how much of the pollutant has entered the northwestern part of the Black Sea, how much of it has settled on the bottom, and how much has already spread along the coast,” said Acting Director of the Ukrainian Scientific Center for Marine Ecology Viktor Komorin.

According to him, fuel oil continues to leak from Russian tankers and is already spreading throughout the Black and Azov Seas. There is a risk that the pollution will eventually reach the shores of Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey.

Meanwhile, Deputy Head of the Sea Ports Administration of Ukraine Maksym Lapai reported that currently no oil products have been recorded in the water area of ​​Ukrainian ports. However, in the event of pollution, all necessary means will be involved to eliminate it: a specialized fleet for collecting oil products, sorbents and boom barriers.

Acting Head of the State Environmental Inspectorate of the South-Western District Vladyslav Khrushch reported on the results of environmental monitoring. According to him, the excess of the level of oil products in the water is currently insignificant, but fuel oil settles to the bottom and is thrown ashore in the form of coke particles. Thus, in the Tuzlivsky Limany National Park, spots of black matter with a diameter of 0.5 to 5 cm were found, which extend for more than a kilometer.

At the same time, Director of the Department of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Odesa Regional State Administration Iryna Shatokhina added that work on collecting oil products in the Lymansky community of the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi district is ongoing and should be completed by the end of the week. After collection, the contaminated substances will be sent for analysis and processing.

Earlier, USM reported that in the Odesa region, on the territory of the Black Sea sandbank, near the Danube Biosphere Reserve, the coast has begun to be cleaned of oil products that entered the water due to the accident of two Russian tankers in the Kerch Strait.