Black Sea coastal ecosystem to take three years to recover after hurricane

The coastal ecosystem of the Black Sea ravaged by the natural disaster in the south of Russia could take 2-3 years to recover, lead scientist at the research laboratory Bioresource potential of the coastal territory of the Sevastopol National Technical University Anastasia Lantushenko told TASS.

"There may be problems with those organisms that have an attached lifestyle, i.e. algae, mollusks, which are usually attached to some kind of carrier. Consequently, in such a storm they may be harmed, especially if they are not adult specimens, which is what happened to the farm, i.e. they lost the whole spat, these are young oyster specimens. If there is a spawning period in the near future, the ecosystem will go back to normal in 2-3 years, because mussels take years to become adults," said Lantushenko.

According to her, the disaster did not affect large species of fish, as they do not come close to the shore during the storm.

A powerful storm hit the Russian south on Sunday night. An experimental oyster spat, grown as part of research by the SPC MoreAgroBioTech company was wiped out.

Earlier, Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhayev reported that the natural disaster damaged or destroyed equipment at the Sevastopol Marine Aquarium; over 500 marine animals died.

The cyclone that rocked Russia’s Black Sea coast at night and in the morning of November 27 was marked by hurricane winds and massive flooding. The affected regions include the republics of Crimea and Dagestan, the Krasnodar and Rostov regions, the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, and the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. At least four people were killed and several dozens injured. The weather event damaged homes, caused power outages and traffic problems. [TASS]

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