After the spill of fuel oil due to the accident of two tankers in the Kerch Strait in mid-December 2024, the fauna of the Black Sea suffered: fish, birds and dolphins began to die massively from oil products. In the markets of Anapa, where there were reports of fuel oil emissions, it became problematic to find one of the most popular types of fish products - lightly salted hamsa, writes Russian RBK.

“Fish contaminated with petroleum products can end up on the shelves. People will be poisoned,” the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Control Dmitry Gusev said in mid-January and called on Rospotrebnadzor to check seafood from the Black and Azov Seas. In addition, the deputy proposed to immediately limit fishing in the areas affected by the disaster.

However, the Russian Federation did not see the need to ban fishing in the Azov-Black Sea fishing basin. “Fishermen are operating at a considerable distance from the emergency zone. Catches are examined for the content of heavy metals and oil products,” the head of the department Ilya Shestakov explained on January 17.

After the accident of tankers in Anapa and Vityazevo, it became problematic to find low-salt hamsa on sale. “Before, our grandmother stood on every corner with a bucket and sold hamsa. Now they are not there,” said Alexander, a resident of Vityazevo.

“In the markets, buyers treat fish with distrust: they constantly sniff hamsa, carp, shrimp,” complains Deputy General Director of the Delofish fishing company Vadim Dubenko.

As reported, two Volgoneft tankers with fuel oil crashed in the Kerch Strait on Sunday, December 15, — according to the main version, due to a storm.

As a result of the tanker accident, there was a spill of oil products. According to Russian media, Volgoneft-212 transported 4,300 tons of fuel oil. Shot and Baza claim that about the same amount of oil products were on board the Volgoneft-239.