Russian Fishery Agency to Sample Rivers Flowing Into Kamchatka's Avachinsky Gulf on Monday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th October, 2020) Sampling of rivers flowing into the Avachinsky Gulf to the south of the Kamchatka Peninsula is scheduled for Monday, Dmitry Klokov, a spokesman for the Federal Agency for Fishery (Rosrybolovstvo), told Sputnik on Sunday.
On Saturday, the Kamchatka branch of the Russian Investigative Committee launched a probe into a possible environmental incident following reports that surfers who had come into contact with seawaters on Kamchatka's Khalaktyrsky Beach showed signs of poisoning. Photographs of large numbers of dead marine animals ashore have been circulating online in the past several days. The environmental prosecutor's office has begun the inspection.
"It is planned to sample the rivers flowing into the Avachinsky Gulf: Nalycheva, Tayenka, Sukhaya and a number of other rivers on October 5. Samples of water, sand, possible emissions of hydrobionts will be collected," Klokov said.
So far, experts from Kamchatka have inspected the Khalaktyrsky Beach, Malaya, Srednyaya, Bolshaya Lagernaya as well as Spaseniya bays, according to the official.
"Samples of water, sand, and biomaterials of aquatic organisms have been collected � eight samples from each zone. Part of these samples will be sent to Moscow in the near future, as there are more opportunities for an extensive analysis," Klokov said.
He noted that specialists of the agency's local branch had been closely monitoring the environmental situation in the area of Khalaktyrsky Beach and adjacent territories since the emergence of the first alarming reports.
"An administrative case was initiated on the grounds of violating Article 8.42 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation [failure to follow a special procedure for exercising economic and other kinds of activities in the coastal protective belt of a water body]," Klokov said.
According to the preliminary test results, increased concentrations of petroleum hydrocarbons and phenols were observed in seawater off the coast of Kamchatka. Eyewitnesses in the region say they saw a change in the color of the water over recent days.