Authorities in the Magadan region are looking for ways to urgently address the long-standing environmental problem that reminded them of themselves on the eve of the gubernatorial elections - at the end of last week an oil slick with an area of more than 250 square meters was raised from the ships sunk in Nagaev Bay. m. According to the interim governor Sergei Nosov, urgent measures will be taken to eliminate leaks of oil products, and then a systematic work was done to clean the bottom of the bay and other parts of the water area of Magadan from flooded boats. The cost of lifting ships can be several tens of millions of rubles and will be determined after their inspection by specialists.
On Tuesday evening, an emergency closed meeting of the emergency commission was held in Magadan with the participation of members of the regional government and a number of federal agencies on the prevention of an environmental disaster in the bay of Nagaev, which is washing the city. In coastal waters, 36 ships rest, of which time, due to time and sea water, leaks of combustible and lubricating materials occur. The last case occurred on August 10, the estimated area of the oil spill spread over the area exceeded 250 square meters. m. The fuel oil is collected on the fifth day, but the traces remain on the surface. The exact location of the leakage is also not produced. Rescuers of the Magadan branch of the Far Eastern regional detachment EMERCOM of Russia examined the vessel "Professor Moiseyev" and "Vyborg" and believe that oil products flow from both.
Trawler "Professor Moiseyev" with 50 tons of fuel oil on board sank in 2006. Prior to that, he had been under arrest for more than two years near the pier of the Magadan Sea Commercial Port. The owner of the vessel, which led the poaching of seafood, has not been established. During the idle time, the trawler's kingstones were damaged by water, which caused flooding. Vyborg was killed on December 19, 1947, when a steamship of the Far Eastern Shipping Company, General Vatutin, exploded in the roadside of the trading port. The latter was engaged in transportation of explosives for the needs of gold ore mines. In total, at least 100 people were killed: crews and passengers of ships on the dock, workers of the Nagaev Trade Port, fire brigade officers and Japanese prisoners of war.
As one of its participants explained to Kommersant before the meeting, the authorities for many years can not share responsibility for the cluttering seabed of the court at various levels. According to the law, water objects are federal property, therefore, it is impossible to allocate funds from the municipal and regional budgets to raise ships. The ships do not have official owners, which means that they will not be able to shift responsibility either. According to the source, "in an emergency situation that has developed in the region today, it is more logical and possible to transfer the water area to the balance of the region."
At the same time, according to the source, the authorities are well aware that the environmental problem can turn not only economic, since there is no money for this in the budget, but also political - less than a month later, on September 9, the region will hold a gubernatorial election.
"Back in 2014, the Russian president ordered the disposal of flooded vessels in the water area of Nagaev Bay. If Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin's commission were executed on time, this situation would not have arisen, - said Sergei Nosov at the meeting of the provisional governor. "The president's mandate must be fulfilled, and all abandoned ships are raised from the bottom and disposed of. It is in the southern seas that sunken ships become the basis for coral reefs. But this is not our case with you. " Let us note that the instruction given to the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation in December 2014 concerned the increase in the efficiency of the use of the fish terminal of the Magadan Sea Port, and provided, inter alia, for the cleaning of the water area of the Nagaev Bay from flooded vessels. So far, this instruction has not been carried out.
According to Mr. Nosov, first urgent measures will be taken to eliminate leaks of oil products, and then a systematic work was done to clean the bottom of Nagaev Bay and other parts of the Magadan water area from flooded boats. He already sent a letter to the head of the Cabinet Dmitry Medvedev, in which he substantiated the need to reconstruct the hydraulic structures of the marine terminal and transfer them from federal ownership to regional. The authorities of the region intend to seek help from the Sakhalin branch of the Federal Maritime Rescue Service "Rosmorrechflot Marine Rescue Service", which has sufficient experience in raising sunken ships and clearing the seabed. The cost of services can be calculated after a detailed inspection of ships, but the government of the Magadan region is already talking about tens of millions of rubles.
Kommersant Magadan interregional environmental prosecutor Stanislav Prutkov told Kommersant that the leak is being verified: "We went to the scene with specialists from the Pacific Maritime Administration for Surveillance at Sea in the city of Magadan. Samples are selected, the analysis of which will conclude that the origin of the spot, the extent and extent of the violation. In the city police department a pre-investigation check is carried out on this fact. " Employees of the Center for Laboratory Analysis and Technical Measurements in the Far Eastern Federal District handed samples of the substance to the Khabarovsk laboratory to determine the type of oil product. The contaminated soil was collected in bags and temporarily placed on a special concrete pad. Mr. Prutsky noted that the disposal of soil will be made after receiving the results of the analyzes.
According to the prosecutor, the evening flight around the harbor's water area showed that there is no evidence of new emissions at the site of the alleged source, but "no one can guarantee that this will not happen tomorrow."
Among the most unfavorable consequences of pollution in the bay area, the local ecologist, the head of the laboratory of the Institute of Biological Problems of the North, Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Andreev, singled out the threat of the salmon population: "If the leakage is not eliminated, then the oil products will flow into the Tauiskaya Gulf in tidal currents. This is fraught with the fact that pollution will reach the estuaries of spawning rivers, which threatens with environmental problems - now the fry is feeding. "