Volunteers spoke about the situation with cleaning the beaches of Taman

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Since the beginning of August, volunteers of the "Dolphins" headquarters have collected about 600 bags of oil products on the beaches of Taman, the situation with emissions in some areas is catastrophic, and the removed contaminated sand simply lies in heaps on the landfill. Volunteers asked their comrades to help clean the beaches.

"Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote that from July 25 to August 19, the authorities did not record new emissions of fuel oil on the coast of Anapa, although volunteers during this period stated that emissions were continuing. On August 4, the volunteer headquarters confirmed that local emissions of oil products continue on the beaches of Taman, and the pollution is visible on satellite images. A small number of volunteers continue to work in the Temryuk district of Kuban, removing fuel oil from places inaccessible to equipment. The authorities have stopped volunteer activity on official beaches and report that the cleanup of the fuel oil spill has been completed. On August 23, volunteers recorded emissions in the area of Lake Tuzla, fuel oil mixed with algae, volunteers of the Dolphins headquarters said, asking for help in cleaning the shore.

On August 26, the headquarters of the only remaining group of volunteers on the coast, the Dolphins, numbering only seven people, asked volunteers from Russia to come to help in Taman.

“We hope that almost a thousand people who worked on the beaches of Anapa during the most difficult period will not remain indifferent to the current catastrophe in Taman,” Marina Kuznetsova, press secretary of the Dolphins headquarters, told a “Caucasian Knot” correspondent on August 26.

In their address to the country’s volunteers, the headquarters leaders spoke about the Dolphins. "The headquarters was created on December 15, 2024, immediately after the man-made accident in the Kerch Strait, which led to a large-scale oil spill. The first rows were made up of local residents, later they were joined by volunteers from other regions of Russia. In eight months, activists have established a monitoring system that covers about 40 km of beaches on the Taman Peninsula. At different times, environmental organizations and volunteer groups from other cities joined the work. However, now the number of participants has sharply decreased, only seven people remain on the coast," the headquarters said in a statement.

The situation there turned out to be catastrophic, worse than in Volna

Head of the headquarters Alexander Kirpa told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that from August 23 to 24, volunteers managed to collect more than 200 bags of fuel oil in 12 hours. The largest emissions were recorded in the area of the village of Volna and Lake Tuzla. "The situation there turned out to be catastrophic, worse than in Volna. The sea washes out fuel oil mixed with algae. If the pollution is not removed immediately, it is carried back to the sea or washed away by sand," he said.

According to him, about 600 bags of oil products have been collected since the beginning of August, and in total, the "Dolphins" have removed about 2.5 tons of fuel oil.

The collected waste is taken to landfills near Anapa (Voznesensky farm) or to Taman. According to Marina Kuznetsova, in winter, fuel oil was stored at the "Sirius" landfill near the village of Taman. "They process some of the oil products there, but mostly they lie in huge piles," Kuznetsova said.

Dolphin coordinators promise volunteers free food and accommodation in the village of Volna. "The contribution of each of us is very important for preserving the ecology of the Black Sea," the headquarters' appeal notes.

Ecologist warns against swimming on polluted beaches

September will be a key month: it is planned to install cofferdams - protective structures that will allow the pumping of fuel oil from damaged tankers, says ecologist Valery Brinikh.

"The water is warm now, and the fuel oil remains in liquid form, so it is easier to pump it out. In winter, it froze and settled to the bottom," he explained to a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

At the same time, the ecologist warned local residents and tourists. "It is not safe to swim on polluted beaches. "Benzopyrene, which is released by fuel oil, continues to affect human health," he said.

The secrecy of the authorities indicates violations

Brinikh also noted that the transportation of waste to the Voznesensky farm raises questions. "Such volumes should only be sent to specialized landfills with the possibility of processing and rendering harmless. The secrecy of the authorities indicates violations," he noted.

The ecologist emphasized that it is difficult to judge the real situation when the most important questions about independent analysis of water and sand along the entire contaminated coastline, about the places, methods and quantities of fuel oil disposed of, are hushed up.

Earlier, "Caucasian Knot" wrote that in February specialists reported that benzopyrene, which provokes oncological diseases and is dangerous even for tourists who have come to rest for a week, was found in samples of sand collected on the beaches of Anapa. According to the scientific director of the Institute of Water Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences Viktor Danilov-Danilyan, the concentration of benzopyrene exceeds the permissible limit by 22.5 times.

According to ecologist Valery Brinikh, areas where benzopyrene levels exceed the maximum permissible concentration should be closed to visitors. "The authorities are obliged to take measures to clean up and reclaim contaminated areas. In fact, they must remove all the sand from the beaches to special landfills. What to do next? There must be a complete replacement and disposal of contaminated sand, if we are talking about beaches. And volunteers with shovels must be replaced by specialized licensed teams and equipment from the state," he said.

"What the consequences will be for those who have been working on the beaches for a long time since the beginning of the disaster is still unknown," warns Viktor Chirikov, a member of the Environmental Watch for the North Caucasus.

After information appeared about the discovery of multiple levels of benzopyrene in the beach sand of Anapa, the authorities should have immediately installed fences and not allowed volunteers and vacationers onto the beaches, but only specialists in suits and masks that protect against exposure to hazardous substances, he said. Kuban ecologist, who asked not to publish his name.

On December 5, 2024, two tankers with fuel oil sank in the Kerch Strait, which led to catastrophic environmental consequences. Details can be found in the "Caucasian Knot" reference "Fuel oil spill in the Kerch Strait". Materials on the consequences of the fuel oil spill have been collected by the "Caucasian Knot" on the thematic page "Eco-disaster in Kuban".

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