Cleaning up the Kola Bay

Intro-text for frontpage:

The beauty of the Kola Bay is striking when one overviews Murmansk city centre from the newly built Orthodox church. The stunning beauty is, however, overshadowed by the sight of rusty, deserted ships, which can be seen here and there above water level. The Kola Bay has unfortunately turned into a graveyard for battle, transport and fishing ships. This in turn is a sad reminder of the fact that the bay has been identified as one of the 42 environmental hot spots in the Russian Barents region.

Picture in intro-text:

One of many sunken ships in the Kola Bay - one of 42 environmental hot spots in the Russian Barents Region Photo: Patrik Rastenberger

One of many sunken ships in the Kola Bay - one of 42 environmental hot spots in the Russian Barents Region Photo: Patrik Rastenberger

Body:

According to estimations by Russian specialists nearly 200 ships and several boats are abandoned in the coastal zone or sunk in the waters of the Kola bay hindering navigation and causing a huge environmental problem. Most of the deserted ships contain asbestos and heavy metals like lead, mercury, zinc and copper, which leak into the surrounding environment.

Through the Barents Hot Spots Facility, NEFCO has financed a project plan that outlines how to lift a sealer boat named "Teriberka", which sunk in the waterway of the Kola bay in 1993. The work on lifting the boat will be carried out by the local Russian authorities with the support from the regional administration and Murmansk commercial port authorities.

In 2003 the non-governmental organization ecological fund "Harmonious development" started to work on the liquidation of unendorsed vessels' disposal sites. The work has been carried out with staff from the commercial port in Murmansk and the Ministry of Natural resources of the Russian Federation. The first object was the disposal dump site "Lavna", which is only one of 10 disposal fields in the Kola bay area. The work was partly financed by the Barents Secretariat.

The aim of these undertakings has been to improve the ecological conditions of the Lavna river outlet and the bottom sediments of the Kola bay. In 2006-2007 this work was financed by a fund administered by the regional authorities in Murmansk. Currently, only four of the 24 ships that were dumped at the disposal fields remain.

"Ecologists’ concerns are growing as new ecologically hazardous toxic substances are being discovered inside as well as around the abandoned and sunk vessels. There have been cases where irresponsible ship-owners used the abandoned ships as landfills for toxic waste. The analyses of the seabed soil showed that the levels of heavy metals, PCB and petrolic carbohydrates in the water surrounding the vessels' graveyards are 10 times higher than in other areas of the Kola bay", said project leader Vladimir Bakharev in Murmansk.

Additional images in slideshow:

One of many sunken ships in the Kola Bay - one of 42 environmental hot spots in the Russian Barents Region Photo: Patrik Rastenberger

One of many sunken ships in the Kola Bay - one of 42 environmental hot spots in the Russian Barents Region Photo: Patrik Rastenberger


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