A large-scale study of the western coast of Crimea showed that unique natural objects were on the verge of destruction. The main culprit is man. This conclusion was reached by Yuri Goryachkin, a leading researcher at the Marine Hydrophysical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
We are talking about spills. These are long strips of land made of sand and shell rock that separate estuaries and salt lakes from the sea. In the Yevpatoriya region, such embankments stretch for 42 kilometers. They create the famous wide beaches of western Crimea. But the value of these strips is not only that tourists like to relax here. Peresyps support delicate balance coastal nature, preserve biodiversity and protect water bodies from mixing with the sea.
The scientist studied archival maps starting from 1817, compared satellite images from different years and analyzed historical documents. The picture was alarming. The main blow to the bay-bars was caused by industrial sand mining.
Lakes Sasyk-Sivash, Donuzlav, Saki and Kyzyl-Yar suffered the most. Large-scale pumping of sand led to the fact that the embankments sharply narrowed and became lower. They can no longer perform their natural functions as before.
Yuri Goryachkin emphasizes that in recent decades the coast has been developed too actively. Designers and developers often do not take into account how sand masses move and how the coastline changes. Result – unreasonable engineering decisions, which not only harm nature, but also threaten huge losses. Money invested in construction without taking into account natural processes can simply be washed away by the waves.
The only place where the bay-bar is safe for now is Oyburskoe. In 2022, a landscape park was created there. This means that here, at least partially, it was possible to stop economic activity and give nature a chance to recover.
For the rest of the bay-bars in western Crimea, the forecast is disappointing. If the approach to coastal development is not reconsidered and sand mining in sensitive areas is not banned, unique landscapes may disappear forever. Along with them, the beaches for which thousands of vacationers come here will also disappear.
Source: AiF-Crimea
Image: RAS
