By Prensa Latina,
Strasbourg, France : The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe stated today the Black Sea is seriously threatened by an ecological disaster of unpredictable consequences.
Water contamination, indiscriminate exploitation, spillage of toxic substances and eutrophication (increase in the concentration of nutrients in fresh water), are the main causes the upcoming natural catastrophe.
According to the text, the first step to be taken is to encourage riverside States to intensify cooperation, that is, Georgia, Rumania, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey.
Parliamentarians stated the spillage of radioactive substances in the sea generated unprecedented contamination.
The Danube, for example, spilled 280 tons of cadmium, 60 tons of mercury, 4,500 tons of lead, 6,000 tons of zinc, a thousand tons of chrome and 50,000 tons of hydrocarbons.
The report admitted the six riverside States work under the 1992 Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea, even though indispensable efforts to control and preserve resources have clearly not been done.
It is known that, besides the chaos provoked by the Danube, the Dnieper, Don, Kuban, Belaia, Yuzhny and the Dniester also spill tons of phosphorus, zinc, nitrate, cadmium, copper and lead into the sea.
The Black Sea is located between Europe and Asia and connected with the Mediterranean by the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles. It is 411,500 sq km long and 2,244 m deep.
Only six out of the 26 species commercially exploited during the 60’s is found today in commercial amounts, with a decrease of the sturgeon, salmon, grey mullet, herring, tuna fish and the goby.
Contamination has increased with intensive fishing.