Heavy fuel oil from Decembers spill in the Black Sea has actually reached the shores of Abkhazia, more than 350 kilometers (217 miles) southeast of the spill website, a local climatologist informed Kremlin-funded media on Sunday.Theres a minor excess [in oil concentrations], but its absolutely not harmful for tourists and locals who have already opened the swimming season, Asida Akhsalba informed Sputnik Abkhazia, though she kept in mind the pollution might affect marine life.Akhsalba said Abkhazia, a Russian-backed breakaway region of Georgia, does not have the funding and equipment to monitor air and soil contamination or to evaluate the complete level of the oil deeper in the sea.Authorities in Abkhazia presently conduct regular monthly water screening, Akhsalba said, adding that surface water temperatures off the coast are increasing, potentially increasing pollution risks.In among the worst Black Sea environmental catastrophes in years, 2 aging Russian tankers on Dec.
15 spilled approximately half of their 9,200 metric tons of mazut, a heavy fuel oil, after being caught in a storm near annexed Crimea and southern Russias Krasnodar region.President Vladimir Putin previously warned that warming sea temperatures in the spring and summer season might trigger more oil to rise from the seabed.Abkhazia, wedged in between the Black Sea and the Caucasus Mountains, is acknowledged internationally as part of Georgia however has actually been under de facto Russian control considering that the 2008 war.
The region remains a popular tourist location for Russian travelers.