WARPE told about additional inspections of Black Sea fish after the fuel oil spill

Each batch of Black Sea fish products shipped in the port of Sevastopol after the wreck of fuel oil tankers undergoes veterinary and sanitary inspection for safety. German Zverev, president of the All-Russian Association of Fishery Enterprises, Entrepreneurs and Exporters (VARPE), told Izvestia.

"WARPE is closely monitoring the ecological situation in the Black Sea in connection with the emergency. We are in constant contact with the Union of Fishermen of Crimea and Sevastopol, which is a member of our association. In winter time the main object of fishing in the Black Sea is hamsa. On December 23, the total catch of this fish amounted to 13 thousand tons. According to our information, trawlers fishing for hamsa in the Kerch Strait area left the water area a day before the storm that led to shipwreck and fuel oil spill on December 15. Since then, fishing has been carried out in the area of Sevastopol at a considerable distance from the coastline," explained the business representative.

According to him, the main task for fishermen is to eliminate the slightest doubts about the safety of fish products supplied to the domestic market.

"That is why, in coordination with the department of veterinary medicine of Sevastopol, now each batch of manufactured fish products delivered to the port, undergoes additional research for compliance with physical, chemical and radiological safety indicators. Only competent authorities - Rosselkhozandzor and Rospotrebnadzor - can assess the safety of fish and seafood caught in the Black Sea. As of today, there have been no official statements about any deviations in the safety indicators of the Black Sea fish and seafood from them", - emphasized German Zverev.

At the same time, he noted that employees of specialized institutions and agencies will have to do serious work to study the consequences of the accident and their impact on aquatic biological resources.

"According to the information of fishermen of Crimea and Sevastopol, the current situation in the area of the shipwreck will not allow fishing in the coming months. Only after additional studies confirming the safety of fishing, fishermen will consider resuming work in the specified water area. We expect that the data on monitoring of epizootic and ecological safety of the Kerch Strait and other adjacent fishing areas in the Black Sea will be made publicly available. The same applies to the data on the conducted studies of safety of fishery products", - said the President of WARPE.

Earlier in the State Duma suggested a temporary ban on fishing and seafood in the Black and Azov seas because of possible insecurity.

Earlier, January 2, the press service of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation reported that 2.4 thousand tons of oil products got into the Black Sea after the crash of the tankers. Tankers Volgoneft-212 andVolgoneft-239crashed in the Kerch Strait on December 15 due to bad weather. On the instructions of Russian President Vladimir Putin, a working group has been set up to coordinate work to eliminate the consequences of the emergency.

The head of the Crimean republic, Sergey Aksyonov, said on 8 January that the situation with fuel oil emissions in Crimea might worsen and the risk of pollution growth is high.