By order of the Minister of Environment and Water Asen Lichev, additional area monitoring of sea waters in the vicinity of ​​the run-aground “Vera Su” ship will start today and will serve as the base for environmental consequences analysis in subsequent rescue operations.

The monitoring plan was developed jointly with experts from the Institute of Oceanology at the Bulgarian Academy of Science. The points for monitoring were selected taking into consideration the distance from the ship, the direction of the prevailing current, and the forecasted meteorological conditions for the next 10 days. This will allow tracking the potential impact on the marine environment in the event of urea entering the marine waters when unloading activities resume.

The first sampling today was carried out with a Border Police ship. Regular water samples will be taken at 7 points in the area south and southeast of the “Vera Su” ship. The first sample will be followed by weekly modeled surveys of coastal sea waters throughout the month.

The pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen, oxygen saturation, ammonium nitrogen, nitrite nitrogen, and nitrate nitrogen will be measured.

In parallel to the additional area monitoring, the MOEW continues to monitor the state of Black Sea waters on a daily basis in the immediate vicinity of the run-aground ship.