Environmentalist: Oil pollution kills dozens of tons of jellyfish in Tuzly Estuaries

This was reported on Facebook by Ivan Rusev, an ecologist and employee of the Tuzly Estuaries National Nature Park, according to Ukrinform.

He noted that during a recent survey of the Black Sea coastal zone, it was discovered that, in addition to the sea waters, vegetable oil had also been dumped in various areas of the sandbar in the Tuzly Estuaries National Park, including the park’s protected zone.

According to the ecologist, the area of the sandbar contaminated with oil in the national park, based on visual estimates over the entire survey period, exceeded 10 hectares. Oil-contaminated algae, shells, and jellyfish were also washed up on the beaches and the sandbar in general.

In particular, tens of thousands of moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) and horned jellyfish (Rhizostoma pulmo) were found in the shallow waters of the coastal zone within the park, floating in an oil-covered broth.

“Based on data from surveys of many coastal areas where jellyfish were found, we can estimate the scale of jellyfish mortality due to oil within the marine waters of the Tuzly Estuaries National Nature Park at tens of tons,” the ecologist said.

As reported by Ukrinform, oily slicks were detected in the Black Sea waters within the Odesa region—a sunflower oil spill occurred as a result of enemy attacks on port infrastructure. Dead birds were found near the “Dolphin” and “Langeron” beaches in Odesa.

Photo: Ivan Rusev, Facebook