site.btaNo Direct Pollution Threat in Bulgarian Section of Black Sea - Minister

There is no direct threat to the Bulgarian waters in the Black Sea according to the results of all the observations that are currently being carried out, caretaker Environment and Water Minister Petar Dimitrov said Friday as quoted by his Ministry. He attended the sampling of the sea water near Durankulak, Northeastern Bulgaria.

According to Dimitrov, pollution is heading eastwards towards the Kerch Gulf and northwards towards the Kerch Strait, there is a high probability of serious ecological pollution of the Sea of Azov. "Despite the scarce information we had and the impossibility of satellite observation at the time of the incident, observations now show that there is no threat to the Bulgarian coast," Dimitrov added.

The Minister said that the monitoring he appointed in connection with the military actions in the Black Sea region is continuing. "The monitoring is permanent and regular, but we have now appointed a new one in connection with the Kerch Strait incident. We will be monitoring this pollution both with models and on satellite imagery and will be taking regular samples."

On Friday, experts from the Black Sea Basin Directorate (BSBD) - Varna and the Regional Laboratory - Varna at the Executive Environmental Agency carried out an inspection and sampling of the sea waters to monitor the current situation after the oil spill in the Kerch Strait. The sampling was also attended by the Director of BSBD Yavor Dimitrov and Captain First Rank prof. Miroslav Tsvetkov, Head of the Scientific Sector at the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy in Varna. 

"After the incident in the Kerch Strait, we will carry out extraordinary monitoring of the same indicators and at the same points where we monitor sea waters regularly. The monitoring does not show any exceedance of the norms for this season", explained Yavor Dimitrov. The indicators include petroleum products, heavy metals and pesticides, as well as dissolved oxygen, PH, salinity, water temperature. Sampling is done in the area of Durankulak - near the fishing port and the Kosmos campsite, as well as in the area of Shabla and Kaliakra.  

Miroslav Tsvetkov said that according to the latest data from the satellite that circled the area of the incident last night, there is an oil spill on the sea surface, but the currents are moving it so that there is no danger for Bulgaria. "The spill is not heading towards our exclusive economic zone and is likely to remain there either until it sinks or until they take measures to contain it. Already the first models of the Copernicus programme showed that the oil spill will head in a direction favourable to us," Tsvetkov noted.