Representatives of fishing companies in Varna, Bulgaria have called for the suspension of fishing for several months and a declaration of emergency in the region due to drifting Ukrainian mines in the Black Sea, local media reported on Tuesday
VARNA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th March, 2022) Representatives of fishing companies in Varna, Bulgaria have called for the suspension of fishing for several months and a declaration of emergency in the region due to drifting Ukrainian mines in the Black Sea, local media reported on Tuesday.
A representative of the Chernomorski Izgrev company uniting over 50 trawlers, Emil Milev, and the head of the Odesos company with more than 20 vessels, Alexander Trypchev, appealed to the government for a temporary ban on fishing and compensation for fishermen, according to the Varna24.bg news portal. Trypchev stressed that Bulgarian fishermen have been put in a situation in which they either die of hunger or die from mines, the report said.
"We are convinced that the state should ban fishing and declare an emergency for two to three months until the sea is cleared of dangerous mines, because the current situation will lead to huge losses for us. We do not want to play Russian roulette and risk our lives," Milev was quoted as saying by the outlet.
Earlier in March, the Russian Federal Security Service said the Ukrainian military had installed about 420 mines at the entrance to the ports of Odessa, Ochakiv, Chornomorsk and Yuzhne since the beginning of the Russian military operation in the country. Last Saturday, Moscow warned Black Sea neighbors that naval mines drifting from Ukrainian ports would reach the Romanian and Bulgarian coasts in a matter of days.
On Monday, a drifting mine was discovered 70 kilometers (about 40 miles) from the Romanian coast.
