It is better not to eat fish and seafood from the Black Sea – it is still suffering from the actions of the Russian occupiers

Almost five months have passed since the Russian invaders blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.

Viktor Komorin, Director of the Ukrainian National Center for Marine Ecology, told how the Black Sea has changed and what affects its cleanup at a briefing at the Ukraine-Odesa Media Center.

“As a result of the accident, toxic substances such as metals, chemicals and oil products quickly got into the Black Sea. At first, many animals died. All this time we were analyzing dead mussels, mullet, and dolphins. As it turned out, in some cases, the concentration of substances was hundreds and thousands of times higher than the permissible norm,” the scientist said. 

The mussels, dolphins and fish in the northwestern part of the Black Sea suffered the most.

“We found a lot of fish in the stomach of one of the dead dolphins, meaning that it was actively hunting before it died, catching fish that turned out to be poisoned. That’s why he died,” Viktor Komorin said.

The scientist added that today’s stormy winds at sea, on the one hand, cleanse the sea, and on the other hand, raise toxic substances to the surface, so you should not eat fish caught in the northwestern part of the Black Sea.

“I do not recommend eating seafood and fish caught off the Odesa coast. This applies to mussels and rapans – they are also unsafe to eat. In addition, fish migrate throughout the Black Sea, so the disaster has affected neighboring countries as well,” noted Viktor Komorin.

The war is ongoing, rocket fuel from downed missiles is getting into the sea, and it is impossible to predict how this will affect the Black Sea ecosystems.

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