MOSCOW – Pollution off the Pacific shoreline of the remote Kamchatka peninsula has caused the mass death of marine creatures, Russian scientists said Tuesday.
Locals sounded the alarm in late Sept. as surfers experienced stinging eyes from the water and sea creatures including seals, octopuses and sea urchins washed up dead on the shore.
A team of divers from a state nature reserve found a “mass death” of sea life at a depth of five to 10 meters, Ivan Usatov of the Kronotsky Reserve said, adding that “95 percent are dead.”
WWF Russia said in a statement that the pollutant appears not to be oil, but a “highly toxic transparent substance that is highly soluble in water.”(AFP)
