Talk:Sea of Azov
It says "reprinted by permission", but do we in fact have permission? Even if we do, is this the article we want? Vicki Rosenzweig [moved text begins below] Washington, 19 June 2001 (RFE/RL)
-- The Sea of Azov is dying, but none of the prescriptions being recommended by experts politically possible.
Russian scholars told a
Moscow newspaper last week
that the Sea of Azov in
southern Russia is now at the
point of catastrophe. The
amount of water flowing into
the sea has declined by 15
cubic kilometers over the last
40 years, the salinity of its
waters has increased by
three percent, and the
amount of petroleum and heavy metal pollution
has increased as well, with large amounts of
radioactive materials now being recorded.
As a result, the scholars told "Vremya MN" that
the sea's formerly rich biological diversity is
being destroyed. Commercial fishing yields
have fallen 97 percent since the 1970s, and
many unique species have become extinct. If
current trends continue, the Sea of Azov will
become yet another dead sea, a body of water
that cannot support either life within it or the
lives of the people who live around it.
According to the scholars that work at the Azov
Fisheries Research Institute, people and
governments have long known what was
happening but have been unable or unwilling to
do something about it. More than 20 years ago,
scholars there and in Moscow developed a
mathematical model of the Sea of Azov, one
that accurately predicted both what would
happen to the sea and what human beings
needed to do to save it.
According to the newspaper, several steps
must be taken now if this body of water is to
avoid a premature death. Commercial fishing
should be prohibited for about 20 years, and
poaching prevented. Moreover, the
government must insist that any industrial
waste being discharged into the sea be
processed so as not to harm the environment.
Shipping must also be reduced, and any oil and
gas exploration and processing simply banned.
But as the paper notes, "everyone
understands that the realization of such plans
is unrealistic." No one is going to be willing to
stop the construction of a major terminal on
the Sea of Azov or close the existing Taganrog
port. For even the minimal steps, such as
cleaning industrial discharge, "there are no
means," the experts said. And because of the
economic hardships the region is suffering,
there is little willingness to crack down hard on
poaching.
As a result, the experts told the paper, about
the only thing the Russian government can be
expected to do is to control and regulate the
amount of fish harvested each year and try to
save a few of the species now threatened with
extinction. Such steps will not save the sea, but
they may prolong its life for a few additional
years.
The sad fate of the Sea of Azov is especially
disturbing because of the matter-of-fact way
the newspaper reports it. Many people have
been agitated for a long time about the
pollution of Lake Baikal in Siberia and about the
drying up of the Aral Sea in Central Asia.
Indeed, both of these developments have
helped to power environmental and even
political movements.
But the Sea of Azov has not attracted equal
attention or generated an analogous political
response. Instead, a small group of scholars
has complained to a single newspaper, and
both the scholars and the newspaper seem
convinced that Moscow does not have the
necessary funds to act and that nothing is likely
to be done.
Given Russia's various problems, they may be
right. But the problems in the Sea of Azov are
likely to have an impact on other countries as
well. The Sea of Azov drains into the Black Sea,
and consequently, its problems are likely to
become problems for that larger body of
water, affecting fishing and commerce for all
the littoral states. And because the Black Sea
connects to the Mediterranean, its problems
can in turn affect an enormous area.
Fifty years ago, few thought that the drying up
of the Aral Sea would happen or would matter.
Now, as the body of water approaches its end,
the disappearance of the Aral is affecting the
health of people across Central Asia and
weather around the entire northern
hemisphere.
Now, as the article in the Moscow newspaper
last week makes clear, few people seem to
care about the fate of the Sea of Azov. But the
problems the newspaper describes strongly
suggest that the impact of the death of that
sea will be seen far sooner than 50 years from
now.
By Paul Goble. Copyright (c) 2001. RFE/RL,
Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio
Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut
Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org
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