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The state of the Sea of Azov – sad for a long time

Currently, the hydrogen sulphide reserves in the Black Sea have formed through the decomposition of organic matter; because the sea is cut off from the ocean and does not experience intense water exchange, it provides ideal conditions for anoxic zones to form in its deep layers and for hydrogen sulphide to accumulate.

The Sea of Azov, on the other hand, is very shallow and, as Skudra explained, under normal conditions, hydrogen sulphide should not form there. The environmental situation in the Sea of Azov has not been encouraging for a long time – decades ago, experts warned that the world's shallowest sea could become the next dead sea, but measures to save it found no political or economic support.

The sea has long been overfished, and it has been inundated with sediment and excessive nutrients from the rivers of the Sea of Azov basin, while active economic activity has also taken place in the sea itself and along its shores – ranging from industry to oil extraction. Twenty years ago, it was already warned that the Sea of Azov was on the brink of catastrophe – there was talk of heavy metal and hydrocarbon pollution, and that some species unique only to the Sea of Azov had already gone extinct. Due to overfishing and pollution, the total volume of commercial fishing in the Sea of Azov has decreased by 97 percent since the 1970s. The construction of the bridge across the Kerch Strait has also had an impact on both fish and mammal species in the Sea of Azov and on water exchange in general.

Researcher: Difficult to imagine conditions for natural recovery

When asked what the future holds for the Sea of Azov and whether we have lost it irretrievably, Skudra cited its small volume as a decisive factor. "If the situation in a given environment was already bad, then any new source of stress only makes everything worse. In my opinion, it is difficult to imagine conditions where anything in the Sea of Azov will be able to recover naturally and improve," the researcher noted.

Concerns that the Sea of Azov faced a bleak future were raised a long time ago, yet despite this, no environmental improvement or conservation measures were implemented in the necessary time and scale. Currently, the forecasts are even more pessimistic, and unfortunately, the events taking place in the region do not inspire hope for addressing the ecological issues of the Sea of Azov.