Environmental Impact of the Tanker Accident in Tuzlivsky Limans

Recently, specialists from the national natural park "Tuzlivsky Limans" conducted a survey of the Black Sea coast to identify oil-contaminated areas resulting from a tanker accident that occurred on December 15, 2024, in the Kerch Strait.

During the survey, a pollution site was found along a 2 km stretch of sandy dune near the Tuzlivsky Limans-Black Sea strait, where the sea washed ashore oil of various fractions with a total weight of 1 kg. The substance was quickly collected as it was in a very soft state due to the +30 temperature on the sand.

Interestingly, the oil was predominantly washed ashore along with seagrass - zoster and various shellfish. Strong winds and underwater currents had recently torn the seagrass from the sea floor, where it was contaminated with oil, and washed it ashore.

It is likely that oil remains along the Odessa coastline, although not all beaches are being surveyed. Moreover, strong winds and sand displacement on the dune could partially cover the oil, dissolving it within the sand and poisoning the sandy biocenoses.

The majority of the oil that may have reached the northwestern Black Sea region from the accident site on December 15, 2024, is already dissolving with the warming and becoming incorporated into the food chains of marine organisms, negatively affecting the atherina fish, which died and was washed up on the shore of the Burnas liman near the mentioned strait.