Fish Increasingly Extinct in Bulgaria's Dying Black Sea

Half of the 80 species of fish in the Black Sea have become extinct as a result of pollution. Photo by bulgaria-tourism.com

Half of the some 80 species of fish inhabiting the waters off the Bulgarian coast of the Black Sea have become extinct, according to fishing experts.

Environmental damage and pollution is increasingly making the Black Sea unfit for living creatures, and more and more fishermen are forced to give up their trade, according to reports of the local media in the city of Burgas.

According to Stoyan Boev, an informal mayor of the largest Bulgarian fishing port, Chengene Skele near Burgas, the extinction of fish is becoming more tangible each year.

Boev is quoted as saying that the deepening and widening of the port of Burgas has incurred additional environmental damage to the already heavily polluted Black Sea as the land mass that was scraped out of the port was placed too close on the shore; subsequently, it collapsed into the sea and was spread by the sea current destroying much of the seaweeds in the Gulf of Burgas.

The fishermen near Burgas, however, say they believe the Black Sea could heal itself, given the right policies for its protection, as long as the dumping of waste in it is terminated.

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