Volunteers celebrated Black Sea Day by cleaning the shores of Kuban.

New fuel oil emissions were recorded on the coast of the Temryuk district of Krasnodar Krai on October 31. Authorities called the emissions "spotlight," while volunteers call them significant.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," on October 24, volunteers discovered fuel oil emissions in Anapa and the Temryuk district. Environmental activists began cleaning up the fuel oil emissions, and authorities brought in local administration staff. On October 27, minor fuel oil emissions were found near Taman, and on October 28, in the village of Blagoveshchenskaya and on the Bugaz Spit. In Anapa, on October 29, point fuel oil emissions were detected only on the "Vysoky Bereg" beach, the task force reported. In the Kerch Strait, about six kilometers of coastline are contaminated with fresh emissions, volunteers reported the same day.

On October 31, the Kuban task force confirmed the presence of new oil product emissions in the Temryuk district, but again characterized them as "pinpoint" and "insignificant."

Fuel oil spills were discovered along four kilometers of coastline near the village of Volna, two kilometers near the village of Veselovka, and on the Tuzla Spit. About 55 people were involved in the cleanup, including specialists from the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations and Kuban-SPAS, local administration employees, and volunteers, according to the Operational Headquarters' official Telegram channel.

Ecologist Zhora Kavanosyan noted that today, Black Sea Day, two volunteer groups—the "Dolphins" headquarters and the "Nets, Sieve, Shovel" group—were working to clean up fresh fuel oil spills in different areas of the coast.

"Oil products were detected half a meter wide, filling up to 20% of the coastline per square meter," Kavanosyan wrote on his Telegram channel.

Nine volunteers from the Dolphins headquarters, 10 municipal volunteers, 25 specialists from the joint EMERCOM team, and four rescuers from the Temryuk District Kuban SPAS team worked today to clean up the coastal section from the village of Volna to the village of Veselovka and further toward Anapa.

Volunteers posted photos and videos of new oil spills, both small and large. “Today is Black Sea Day. But the sea once again reminds us why its name has become literal. It is black not by name, but because we made it so. We—as a society, as a generation—allowed the oil spill and the destruction of the ecosystem. Today, on Black Sea Day, we are not taking a break. We are saving our beloved shores,” notes a post on the Dolphins Telegram channel.

Volunteers from the "Net, Sieve, Shovel" group were busy collecting fuel oil today on the Bugayskaya Spit, where, according to their data, there are also significant new emissions. "The problem is that the emissions are quickly washed away by storms. Some have to be felt right in the surf zone and brought to the surface. You have to act without delay, otherwise you won't be able to see it later," one of the publications noted.

By the end of the day, six volunteers from the group collected 30 bags of sand-contaminated fuel oil from a 1.5-kilometer stretch of the Bugayskaya Spit. They are expecting reinforcements tomorrow, November 1, according to the group's Telegram channel.

In August, satellite images showed that the Black Sea continues to be polluted with fuel oil from sunken tankers . Most of the fuel oil settled to the seabed, including in the area of Taman, Anapa, and the Bugay Spit, scientists concluded.

On December 15, 2024, two tankers carrying fuel oil sank in the Kerch Strait. A crew member from one of the tankers died as a result. Furthermore, an oil spill occurred, leading to catastrophic environmental consequences, according to the Caucasian Knot report "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 page "Eco-disaster in Kuban".