Crimean occupiers influence the ecology and zoology of the peninsula: expert opinion

Анастасія Рашко, Анастасія Терещук
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16:38, 27 May
Crimean occupiers influence the ecology and zoology of the peninsula: expert opinion
Image source: Web zoopark

At least 661 dolphins died during 2020. This was reported by the Occupation Center for the Rescue and Rehabilitation of Cetaceans. About 400 dolphins die each year. In general, there are 3 species of cetaceans in the Black Sea. All of them are listed in the Red Book of Ukraine.

Anastasia Rashko, a correspondent of the Public Crimea, learned how the illegal construction of the occupiers affects the fauna of the semi-island.

Ecologist Oleksiy Vasyliuk says that new environmental problems have emerged in Crimea since the occupation began.

"Crimea has always been an ecologically clean, safe region. They began to build the Tavrida highway and the Crimean bridge, for which they dug a whole grocery braid. This geological object in the sea exhausted sand spit washed away blew up a mass of mountains just to extract sand. They (the occupying power - ed.) Even passed a separate law, which allowed to build this object without ecological examination, because it would not have passed ecological examination», - Vasilyuk notes.


Oleksiy Vasyliuk / Source: Suspilne Crimea

The ecologist added that the occupiers began to dump sewage into the sea en masse.

“Mass discharges of sewage into the sea have started, there was no such discharge before, there were only official deep-water discharges. Now, due to holes in the pipes, due to fishing disruptions in the coastal zone, people have begun to unofficially dump sewage into the sea. For the last 2 years, the occupation authorities have banned going to the sea on the beach in many places", - Oleksiy said.

There are 3 species of cetaceans in the Black Sea. These are the bottlenose dolphin, the common dolphin or the barrel, and the Black Sea guinea pig. All of them are listed in the Red Book of Ukraine and the list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

CrimeaSOS analyst Yevhen Yaroshenko says the Kerch bridge poses a threat to marine animals.

“The section on the construction of the Kerch Bridge very well depicts the risk for dolphins. The species of dolphins, which is included in the Red Book of Ukraine, is not included in the Red Book of Russia, and in general, Ukrainian law better regulates environmental protection than Russian. The Kerch bridge actually became a dam. The Sea of ​​Azov turns into a lake, waterlogging is formed. Dolphins and other species of animals that live in the waters of the Sea of ​​Azov, due to changes in water exchange between the two seas, their existence is threatened", - the analyst said.


Yevhen Yaroshenko / Source: CrimeaSOS

Pavlo Goldin, a leading researcher at the Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, says the construction of the Kerch Bridge is a threat to the guinea pig.

"Especially for a guinea pig, it is fishing gear. Underwater noise is also dangerous for a guinea pig, and in this sense, the construction of the Kerch Bridge was a threat to this animal, during construction the norms of acoustic pollution were violated", -  scientist Pavel Goldin says.


Black Sea Guinea Pig / Source: Web zoopark

In 2019, the zoological projects Akobams and Senobs assessed the distribution of cetaceans in the Black Sea. They recorded about 400,000 dolphins. According to the occupation Center for the Rescue and Rehabilitation of Marine Mammals, more than 2,000 cetaceans have been dumped on the peninsula in the last four years.

Pavel Goldin says that more than 10% of the entire guinea pig population may die.

"There is no guinea pig in the Mediterranean, the closest place it occurs is from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean. Almost 300 km, ie Black Sea guinea pigs, they are isolated from the rest of their relatives of this species. Up to 10% of the total guinea pig population can die, which is several times more than the allowable norm for natural reproduction, ”says Pavlo.


Paul Goldin / Source: Reporters

Ecologist Oleksiy Vasyliuk emphasizes that the bridge complicates the migration of dolphins.

"In the first months after the construction of the bridge, ice jams occurred and this stopped the migration of fish for spawning in the Sea of ​​Azov. This has complicated the migration of dolphins", - the ecologist said.

The occupiers illegally built the Crimean bridge over the Kerch Strait. According to the Institute of Geophysics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine - in Crimea, the largest in Ukraine seismic activity with magnitudes up to 6.8.

"It is known that the most seismically active points on the map of Ukraine are the Kerch Peninsula and the Kerch Strait. It is there between the Kerch Peninsula and the Taman Peninsula zone of volcanic activity mud volcanoes. If the first seismic shock ever occurs in Ukraine, an earthquake will occur just below the Kerch Bridge. It was built exactly on the diagonal of the zone, which has seismic activity", - Oleksiy added.

CrimeaSOS expects that further issues of Crimea's ecology will be covered at the level of international organizations, such as the UN Environment Program, UNEP, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, and the OSCE's economic and environmental bodies.

"All ecologists who will be engaged in new research in the future will help Ukraine to develop a state policy towards Crimea. Currently, tools are being created to help reduce accidental catches, and acoustic deterrents are being installed to scare off guinea pigs from nets. The Crimean Nature Reserve, which has always been a great object of attention of scientists, has simply been turned into a national park in the system of the administration of the President of the Russian Federation", - Yevhen Yaroshenko said, an analyst at the Crimean SOS NGO.