
Ecological disaster in Kamchatka
The current situation in Kamchatka reveals a problem of an all-Russian scale: the absence of a preventive environmental control system. Disjointed federal and local regulatory agencies are willing to fine violators but the procedure for revealing the facts often rests upon local residents, and environmental activists.
The area off the Khalaktyrsky beach is one of the priority areas for conservation identified during a systematic conservation planning that was recently conducted for the Russian Far East Seas Region. The waters off the Khalaktyrsky beach are one of the 27 key areas that have the highest priority for the conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems in the region. The shelf of the northern part of the Avachinsky Bay is highly productive. Not only the wildlife of the Bay depends on the area of the Khalaktyrsky beach but also the local residents as this region is an important area for fishing.Living dead ocean
Event history
Alexey Knizhnikov, the Head of the program on Environmental Business responsibility at WWF-Russia. Learn more
Images from the satellite Sentinel-2 from 2017 to 2020 shows that it is not possible to trace contamination visually
Unfortunately, the results, that were published, do not provide enough information for understanding the reasons of the mass mortality of the biota. It needs to get the results of the tests of biological materials.
The main task of the newly created council is to coordinate the actions of scientific organizations, executive authorities, and to accumulate all available information on the problem of water contamination of the Gulf of Avacha and its bays. Learn more
WWF-Russia's experts suggest widening the area of the survey further to the north, performing a dredging survey, and involving specialists from the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring
THE UNDERWATER DRONE IN KAMCHATKA
“After the discussion, we can admit that the algal bloom and red tide explanation seems pretty fair. However, the results of phytoplankton and biomaterial tests, including quantitative and qualitative composition, have not been yet published; not all sampling sites have been mapped. We admit and respect the openness and transparency of the investigation process demonstrated by the government agencies,” say at WWF-Russia. “As a result of public data analysis, WWF-Russia compiled an interactive sampling site map and updates it constantly. We hope that all the results of the sample texts will be made public and scrutinized by scientists. It is possible, that this red tide phenomenon can repeat itself due to global climate change. Was the algal bloom the only cause or were there other additional factors? These are the questions yet to be answered by scientists.”