Mystery toxic pollution on Russian east coast has killed 95% of seabed life, scientists say

Russia launches criminal investigation as researchers’ findings appear to confirm fears of ‘environmental disaster’

A suspected spillage of toxic chemicals on the coast of far east Russia has wiped out almost all marine life on the area’s seabed, scientists have said.

Divers who inspected the waters off a 25-mile stretch of Kamchatka peninsula reported that 95 per cent of creatures on the ocean floor were dead; findings they said confirmed fears of an “environmental disaster” with a potentially devastating long-term impact.

The pollution was first reported by local surfers, who suffered eyesight problems and apparent chemical burns after entering the water last month. Sea creatures including seals, octopi, starfish and urchins have since washed up dead on the region’s shores.

Russia’s Investigative Committee on Wednesday bowed to pressure and launched a criminal investigation to establish the source of the unexplained pollution, after the Kremlin initially downplayed the disaster and denied any manmade cause.

Some scientists have speculated rocket fuel may have leaked out of storage facilities in former military testing grounds a few miles from the coast. Others have suggested a harmful algal bloom, a natural phenomenon that can be triggered and exacerbated by manmade pollution. 

Kamchatka’s governor, Vladimir Solodov, said hundreds of water samples had been collected over the past week and were being analysed in laboratories in Vladivostok and Moscow.

Marine biologists who examined the pollution site told the governor in a meeting on Tuesday they found “massive death” at the bottom of Avacha Bay.

“On the shore, we also did not find any large dead sea animals or birds. However, when diving, we found that at depths from 10 to 15 meters there is a massive death of benthos [seabed-dwelling organisms] — 95 per cent are dead,” said Ivan Usatov, a researcher at the Kronotsky Nature Reserve and Pacific Institute of Geography.

Some large fish, shrimps and craps had survived “but in very small quantities,” he added. But these too may die as their food supply has been destroyed, scientists said.

On dives in other areas nearby, researchers saw unusual brown foam in the water and “massive remains” of dead seabed creatures, which they warned indicated the contaminated area was much wider than the water they surveyed.

Underwater photographer Alexander Korobok, who took part in the research expedition, said: “There is an environmental disaster. The ecosystem has been undermined significantly, and this will have rather long-term consequences, since everything in nature is interconnected.  

“Yes, there are live crustaceans. But they have a protective shell that other bottom dwellers do not have. In the long term, they are likely to die as well.”

He added he had suffered apparent burns during the dive.

Russia’s environment minister, Dmitry Kobylkin, had earlier downplayed reports of injuries and illness suffered by surfers at the area’s Khalaktyrsky beach.

“For us, there is no scale of disaster. No one has died, no one was hurt," he said on Monday after environmental groups Greenpeace and the WWF raised the alarm about an “ecological catastrophe”.

But on Wednesday, Mr Kobylkin changed tone and vowed that those responsible for the pollution would be punished.

"There cannot be any compromises here, as with the situation in Norilsk," he said, referring to a major oil spill in the Russian Arctic in May. "Citizens' environmental wellbeing and the preservation of ecosystems come first."

Russia’s Investigative Committee, a federal law enforcement agency similar to the FBI, said dead marine life had washed up on the Kamchatka’s shore from 1 September to 3 October and the  seawater had been found to contain oil components including phenol.

It said it was examining all possible sources of toxic chemicals, including a nearby facility used to store pesticides, and investigating suspected violations in the handling of environmentally hazardous substances and pollution of the marine environment. No suspects have been named.