In the town of Kopychyntsi in the Ternopil region, the deaths of over 500 large fish—silver carp, common carp, and grass carp—have been recorded. Environmentalists point to sewage contamination, but the final cause must be determined by the State Environmental Inspection, which has already taken samples.
This was reported by the media outlet Suspilne.
The mass death of the fish came to light following a report by Ihor Kuzyk, an associate professor in the Department of Geoecology at Ternopil Pedagogical University. He highlighted the harsh weather conditions this winter, noting that the fish could have died due to a thick layer of ice and restricted oxygen access. However, this may not have been the only factor.
"As a scientist, I want to say that the presence of ice and the warming of the water are not the only causes of the death of such a large number of fish. Another likely cause could be that the water is polluted," the ecologist noted.
In his post, Ihor Kuzyk wrote that over five tons of fish died “due to the lack of wastewater treatment facilities in the city, the high concentration of food processing plants and their associated effluents, and mismanagement.”
Bad news for local anglers
The pond, with a depth of about 2.5 meters, is managed by the public organization “Kopychyntsi Anglers.” It had been stocked with commercial fish species over the past three years.
“Approximately 90 percent of all the fish that died were silver carp. There are still carp and amur left, plus we spotted three pikes in the whole pond. It breaks my heart, as I personally invested effort into it,” said the head of the anglers' organization, Petro Chernysh.
He added that such a situation had not happened before, and currently fish have also died in the ponds of neighboring villages.
Source: suspilne.media
Searching for the cause
The city council told journalists that specialists from the regional branch of the State Environmental Inspectorate examined the body of water and collected water samples.
“All services were notified regarding the mass fish mortality. Water samples were collected at three locations for analysis. The cause of the fish deaths will be known after the laboratory results,” stated Andrii Patola, Secretary of the Kopychyntsi City Council.
Source: suspilne.media
The city council also commented on the status of wastewater treatment facilities. They reported that equipment has already been received from benefactors, and preparations are underway to draft procurement documentation to find a contractor for installation.
Overall, during the inspection, more than half a thousand dead fish were recorded. Environmental inspectors are determining whether pollution could have caused the deaths. The analysis results will be available in a week. Meanwhile, the dead fish have been designated for burial in a specially allocated area; this work will be carried out by specialists from the Chortkiv District State Veterinary Medicine Hospital.
EcoPolitic recently reported that mass fish deaths were also recorded in the city of Zhytomyr.
