Photo: State Agency of Ukraine for Development of Land Reclamation, Fisheries and Food Programmes
All the fish in the Seym River died, including the endangered sturgeon listed in the Red Book. It will take 3 to 5 years to restore life in the river following the pollution.
Oleh Lystopad, an ecologist and expert from the Network for the Protection of National Interests ‘ANTS’, shared this information on Hromadske Radio.
«All fish in the Seym have died. Not just sterlet, but also species listed in the Red Data Book. According to Academician Afanasiev, Director of the Institute of Hydrobiology at the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, it will take 3 to 5 years to restore life in this river.«
The ecologist further explained that it wasn’t just the fish that died in the Seym, but all living organisms. The reason is the lack of oxygen in the water.
«There was no oxygen, and all living things in the river died—not just fish, but invertebrates, crayfish, mollusks. Everything died,» Lystopad said.
The Desna River, into which the Seym flows, also experienced a mass death of fish. However, since the Desna is a larger river, the pollution was more diluted. In addition, some fish managed to escape. Lystopad explained that while the consequences of the pollution in the Desna are severe, the situation is not as critical as in the Seym. The river will still need time to recover.
«The Seym River flows into the Desna, and a fish die-off occurred in the Desna as well, over a considerable stretch. But the Desna is fuller, and the pollution was diluted by about four times. While the consequences are still very serious, there is the upper part of the Desna and its tributaries where some fish managed to escape. So the situation in the Desna is somewhat better. But it, too, will need time to recover,» Lystopad explained.
The ecologist also warned of the risk of a decline, and possibly even the extinction, of the Red Book fish species. This is due to pollution in the Seym River. The population of the Red Book sturgeon in the Desna remained above the confluence of the Seym and Desna. Some of these fish may have moved to the Seym’s tributaries.
«Of course, there’s a risk. The population of Desna sterlet remains above the confluence of the Seym and Desna, and perhaps some of them have moved to the Seym’s tributaries. However, there are reports that some fish were blocked by so-called farmers to supply water for irrigation. It is crucial that the coastal protection zone regulations are observed,» Lystopad said.
Russia had caused large-scale pollution of the Seym river with organic matter. This was reported on August 27 by the State Agency of Ukraine for Land Reclamation, Fisheries, and Food Programs.
The water quality in the river deteriorated after Russian forces blew up a sugar factory and another facility in the Kursk region. This was reported by the acting mayor of Chernihiv, Oleksandr Lomako. The pollution spread through the Seym River in Sumy Region and reached Chernihiv REgion. This lead to a fish die-off in the city.
On September 17, the Seym River was again polluted in the Sumy Region, causing water quality to deteriorate at the upper monitoring points near the village of Mutyn.
Another instance of pollution was recorded on September 24 in the town of Baturyn, where chemical oxygen demand exceeded the norm by 2.2 times. However, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine reported that there were no exceedances in levels of ammonium nitrogen, nitrites, phosphates, or chlorides.