Massive Fish Kill in Dniester Estuary: Several Tons of Crucian Carp Found

A massive fish kill was recorded in the Dniester estuary in Odesa region. The incident occurred near the village of Vypasne, which is part of the Molohiv community.

This was reported by the State Ecological Inspectorate of the Southwestern District on March 20.

Environmental inspectors together with representatives of the State Fisheries Service arrived at the scene. They inspected the area and confirmed a significant kill of crucian carp.

To determine the cause of the fish death, the experts took water samples for laboratory tests. The results are expected to answer the question of what could have caused the environmental problem.

According to media reports, Ruslan Minkovskyi, head of the water resources protection department of the Odesa Fisheries Patrol, said that the freeze-up occurred in the area of industrial fishing. The amount of dead fish that washed ashore could be several tons.

"It is a silver crucian carp. Moreover, the individuals are sexually mature, up to seventeen centimeters in size," he said.

It should be noted that mass fish kills are not uncommon in Odesa region. Last year, state environmental inspectors established the fact of suffocation of aquatic bioresources in the Paliyivska Bay of the Khadzhibey Estuary. The experts found that the maximum permissible concentrations of ammonium nitrogen were exceeded by 66 times.

Earlier, the State Ecological Inspectorate of the Southwestern District reported that it had found out the causes of fish death in the Zhelyavsky Canal, which connects Katlabukh Lake with the Danube River in Izmail district of Odesa region.

Fish deaths were also reported in Mykolaiv region, where a massive fish kill was spotted on the banks of the Southern Bug River in the Matviyivka neighborhood of Mykolaiv.

Андрій Колісніченко