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Pollution of Seym and Desna rivers in the Chernihiv region caused the wholesale death of fish including the red-book sturgeons

Pollution of Seym and Desna rivers in the Chernihiv region caused the wholesale death of fish including the red-book sturgeons.

 

Situation with the pollution of Seym and Desna rivers is of major concern, as not only local communities are affected, but biodiversity of the whole riverine ecosystem. Experts of WWF-Ukraine observed the death of the red-book sturgeon species that survived in reservoirs of these rivers against all odds. 

 

Particularly, there were recorded the death of sterlet individuals - the representatives of sturgeons that are on the brink of extinction in Ukraine.

 

There was a big risk that pollution caused small sturgeon populations to be reduced. If the situation will not be changed, it will be catastrophic for that unique fish species.

It is reported that the cause of pollution is discharge of wastewater by the sugar plant in a Russian town called Tyotkino in the Kursk region. Organic pollution resulted in the decreasing of the oxygen level in reservoir and hence in the wholesale death of fish.

 

It should be noted that out of the 26 sturgeon species that exist in the world, six were historically found in our waters: beluga, Russian sturgeon, stellatus sturgeon, sterlet, Atlantic sturgeon and ship sturgeon. Unfortunately, the last two are officially recognized as extinct on the territory of Ukraine because of poaching, destruction of natural spawning sites and dams construction. The other four species, although preserved, are on the brink of extinction.

 

Photo: Serhiy Zhuk / Head of the State Ecological Inspection in the Chernihiv region



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