MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th October, 2020) Russian environmental watchdog Rosprirodnadzor, together with energy giant Novatek, will create a laboratory on the Kamchatka Peninsula, the state agency's head said on Thursday amid the investigation into the mass stranding of sea animals in Avacha Bay.
"We believe that the region should get a full-fledged environmental monitoring system with a good laboratory. [The watchdog] held talks on cooperation with Novatek. I personally agreed with its head, Leonid Mikhelson, that a laboratory will be created on the basis of Rosprirodnadzor in Kamchatka that will be able to take tests and do them in an effective and qualitative manner," Svetlana Radionova said on Instagram.
In late September, surfers frequenting the Khalaktyrsky beach reported getting a skin rash and swollen eyes. A 3.6-time increase in oil products was later detected in the water and a two-fold increase in acidic compound phenol. Photos and videos of the beach covered with dead marine life have since been shared online by locals.
Later, the Russian minister for natural resources and environment, Dmitry Kobylkin, said that no chemical agents had been detected but did confirm a slight increase in phosphates and iron.
The Russian Investigative Committee has launched a criminal case. The authorities are looking into three possible reasons for the pollution: man-made pollution, natural phenomena and seismic activity. Meanwhile, the environmental situation on the Kamchatka coast is reportedly gradually improving.
