Storm Topples Canal Dredger in Danube Biosphere Reserve

VILKOVO, Ukraine, November 17, 2004 (ENS) - Environmentalists who warned Ukrainian officials about the danger of accidents during construction of a controversial canal across the Bystroe estuary in the Danube UNESCO Biosphere Reserve have been proven right, but the officials paid no heed to protests and warnings.

The first severe storm of the autumn season on the night of November 10 overturned a piece of dredging equipment and threw it onto Ptichya (Ptashinaya) Spit, which is about 700 meters (.4 miles ) away from the Bystroye estuary.

The pipes from the sand removal platform M-28 belonging to the contracted German company Moebius were also thrown across the spit - a little more than a kilometer from the environmentally sensitive estuary.

On November 12 and 13 canal construction workers tried to approach the spit using two barges with excavators to deepen the sea bottom, as it is very shallow. But they did not succeed in clearing the pipes off of the spit.

On Tuesday barges approached within 80 meters of the spit and used ropes to get the pipes off.

Pipes from the Moebius sand removal operation stranded on Ptashinaya Spit. (Photo courtesy International Socio-ecological Union)

"Fortunately, this time no oil or fuel spill happened," said Olga Zakharova of the International Socio-ecological Union, a conservation advocacy group that tried to warn Ukranian officials of accidents in the reserve as a result of canal construction. "However, the whole situation shows how dangerous is this construction for fragile delta ecosystems," she said.

The Ptashinaya spit, named for the birds that once congregated there, suffered the effects of canal construction this summer. Three bird colonies perished as birds abandoned their nests, scared by the construction noise.

The reserve itself is in "a catastrophic situation," warns Zakharova. The Ministry of Transport of Ukraine is lobbying for more changes in the reserve zoning, even though the Bystroye estuary has been in fact, if not by law, excluded from the reserve.

The Transport Prosecutors office raided the Reserve Administration Office two weeks ago and took away all the documents needed for everyday work, including fuel procurement and use.

Currently, rangers cannot sail out and protect the remaining reserve territory because they cannot purchase fuel. Different fiscal entities are pressing the reserve, which is helpless without its documents, Zakharova says.

Ukranian officials maintain that the canal construction does not affect the ecological balance of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. They say the canal is needed for economic reasons to open a navigable route to the Black Sea.

The Danube Delta is the ecological heart of Europe, and, according to WWF, is "the most important wetland area in Europe." The estuary serves as spawning grounds for many ecologically and economically valuable marine species.

It is the largest interconnected reed bed in the world, a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance. It is inhabited by 325 species of birds and 75 species of fish, as well as reptiles and insects, many of which are listed in the IUCN-World Conservation Union Red Book as species threatened with extinction.

Conservationists say the canal will be an ecological disaster. The banks are to be covered in concrete, destroying a major migratory area for many species of birds. Ship fuel will pollute the waterway, they predict, endangering the local water supply.

The International Socio-Ecological Union and the Ukrainian Coalition for Wild Nature have demanded an end to the abuse of human rights and law in Ukraine, especially as it relates to the canal construction.

"International intervention in the situation is urgently needed," the groups warned in a statement today, "or present corrupt bureaucrats and greedy business people will finally destroy the real Danube Reserve."