Journal of Global Resources
Volume 5
July 2017
ISSN: 2395-3160 (Print), 2455-2445 (Online)

Page 15-1903
BLACK SEA FACING AN ECOLOGICAL DISASTER THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR
PROTECTION OF MARINE BIODIVERSITY
Anguel Anastassov
Professor, University of Security and Economics, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Email: anguelanastassov@hotmail.com

Abstract: The problems of an ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss have been linked
with factors such as eutrophication, chemical pollution, oil pollution, introduction of alien
species and marine litter. In addition, wild species and their habitats have been undermassive overexploitation. The pollution of the environment and the loss of biodiversity arealarming problems especially in the light of turning the Black Sea into an important transport
venue for oil and gas. A conclusion is reached that the unique biodiversity of the Black Sea
could be saved through an efficient legal and institutional framework which could beachieved mainly by active participation of the Black Sea coastal states in the existing
universal legal instruments, by joining some new conventions and closing the existing gaps
in the regional sea governance structure.
Key words: Sea, Governance, Biodiversity, Politics, Conservation
Introduction
The Black Sea was connected to the Mediterranean after the opening of the Dardanelles
some 100 000-150 000 years ago. It was then isolated and about 6 000 years ago
reconnected to the Sea of Marmara and the Mediterranean Sea (Zaitsev, Mamaev, 1997).
The prolific nature of the Black Sea ecosystem was first discovered by ancient Greek
authors such as Herodotus (V Century BC), Ptolemaious (II Century BC) and others who
revealed of the innumerable Black Sea stocks of salmon, tuna, sturgeon and mullet in theBlack Sea. The history of the coastal settlements of Bulgarians, Greeks, Georgians,Russians, Tartars, Turks has continued for almost 3 000 years. Unfortunately, the fish stock
situation in the Black Sea nowadays is quite different from the one described by Herodotus.
A number of negative trends (Penchev, 1988) have been recently noticed. In general,dynamic and intensive use of the sea for economic and military purposes increases thedangers for the ecological balance of the marine environment.
Sustainable marine biodiversity contributes substantially to a number of areas ofmodern life. It supports air quality, water purification, climate and prevention of erosion. Nonmaterial benefits include aesthetic values, recreation and knowledge systems. The role oflegal and political instruments in the safeguarding the biodiversity in the Black Sea isindispensable. Along with these instruments, civil society and the respective sociological
techniques play an important role in identifying the various important national and regional
factors attached to biodiversity.

15

The Black Sea ecosystem and reasons for its degradation and biodiversity lossThe Black Sea, the world’s most isolated sea is bordered by Russia and Ukraine to thenorth, Turkey to the south, Georgia to the east and the European Union (Bulgaria andRomania) to the west. The Black Sea has a much specialised marine ecosystem based on anumber of reasons. Above all, one phenomenon deserves to be underlined, namely the factthat freshwater from the northern rivers (Danube, Dnieper, Dniester) floats on top and thesalt water coming from the Mediterranean plunges to the bottom. The active inflow ofnutrients by rivers results in the growth of phytoplankton, so the coastal waters of the BlackSea usually have a greenish colour. With rivers providing an abundant supply of freshwater, the upper layers of the Black Sea are less dense than its saltier lower layers. A
permanent boundary between the two prevents any vertical mixing. The oxygen, derived
from the atmosphere and photosynthesis, remains restricted to these surface waters.
However, this precious gas is essential to the development of the majority of living species.
Recent research has shown that this toxic boundary shoaled from 140 to 90 metres between
1955 and 2015 (Capet, Stanev, Becker’s, Murray, Grégoire, 2016). This feature combinedwith the shallowness of the connecting channels with the Mediterranean makes the BlackSea a stagnant marine area.

The Black Sea and its contiguous waters are used for shipping, fishing,aquaculture, mineral exploitation, tourism, recreation, military exercises and for liquidand solid waste disposal. In addition, the seabed and the catchment area are underpermanent pressure from other human activities, including urban development,industry, and agriculture. Agriculture especially is the main contributor to water
degradation in the Danube Basin, as the main tributary of the Black Sea, through theimproper use of fertilizers and pesticides, and leakage of liquid waste from farms. It
has been estimated that the six coastal countries contribute about 70% of the total
amount of nutrients flowing to the Black Sea as waste from human activities. Someof this amount and nearly all of the remaining 30% (from the countries with no directaccess to the sea) enter the Black Sea through the Danube River(http://web.worldbank.org/archive/website00225B/WEB/OTHER/ENVIRONM.HTM?OpenDocument).
.
It is widely recognised that pollution could be caused mainly by eutrophication,chemical pollution, oil pollution and marine litter. The consequences of eutrophication are
undesirable if they appreciably degrade ecosystem health and/or the sustainable provision ofgoods and services. These changes may occur as a result of natural or anthropogenicprocesses. Chemical pollution in the Black Sea is caused by human activities in marine andland-based areas. These activities include shipping/harbour operations, agriculture,industrial interventions and municipal discharges. Concentrations of most toxicants (heavymetals, pesticides, radionuclides) are typically greater in sediments than in water. Dumpingof wastes, especially persistent organic pollutants, directly into the Black Sea, whether
legally or illegally is a continuing problem in some countries .A serious problem relates to theoil pollution in the Black Sea. Oil enters into the marine environment from various sources
such as shipping traffic, oil production, pipeline breaks, illegal discharge of tanker ballast
water, tanker accident, incompletely burned fuel, automobile exhausted gas, wood-burning
etc. Alien species have been introduced to the Black Sea by ships from other parts of theplanet and have become predators to the indigenous marine environment. Marine litter is a16

global issue of concern which is solely caused by human activities. Climate change leads toa number of environmental threats which include temperature change and sea level rise.
The international legal and institutional framework
The international legal and institutional framework plays an indispensable part in theprotection of the Black System and protection of biodiversity (Oral, 2012).It consists ofuniversal legal instruments, specific conventions of the International Maritime Organisation(IMO), Black Sea governance system and European legislative and policy measures. The
river-born pollution and its effect on the biodiversity in the Black Sea provides an excellent
additional opportunity for an analysis of the two different respective families of the legal
regimes, pertinent to marine pollution and biodiversity via trans boundary watercourses(Vinogradov, 2007). Six intergovernmental conventions are at the centre of the generalprotection of the Black Sea biodiversity: the Convention on Wetlands of International
Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat of 1971, the UNESCO Convention concerning
the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of 1972, the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora of 1973, the Convention
on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals of 1979, the Convention on
Biological Diversity of 1992 and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for
Food and Agriculture of 2004.
The United Nations Law of the Sea Convention (LOSC) has been recognised as alegal instrument which has made a significant contribution to the protection of the marineenvironment. Of particular relevance to the question of biodiversity is the analysis of theconservation and management of natural resources within exclusive economic zones asestablished by Part V of the LOSC. The IMO has authored most of the basic conventions,regulations and guidelines for protection of the marine environment from vessel-source
pollution. Of specific importance is International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution
from Ships of 1973, Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping ofWastes and Other Matter of 1972, International Convention for the Control and Managementof Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments of 2004.
Black Sea regional governance system
The Black Sea regional governance system is based mainly on the Convention on theProtection of the Black Sea against Pollution of 1992 and its Protocols, memoranda anddeclarations. The provisions of the 1992 Black Sea Convention however are too general andhave not included such increasingly attractive principles and concepts of modern
environmental law, as the precautionary approach, the polluter-pays principle, use of “bestavailable techniques”, “best environmental practices”, catchment (hydrological basin)
management and ecosystem approach. In addition, many of the commitments undertaken
under the Black Sea Convention have not been implemented yet. For instance, parties have
not harmonized their laws and regulations to prevent, reduce and control pollution of themarine environment caused by or connected with activities on its continental shelf, asrequired under Art XI of the Black Sea Convention.
The Black Sea Commission and its Permanent Secretariat consolidate the regional
activities on various types of marine pollution on the basis of the implementation of the 1992
Black Sea Convention and its Protocols, and the Strategic Action Plan for the Rehabilitation
and Protection of the Black Sea. The Black Sea Commission ensures the basis for efficient
17marine monitoring via an Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Programme for the BlackSea region (BSIMAP) and all the Black Sea countries have national monitoring programmes
but only some of them are in line with the full objectives of BSIMAP. Some legal gaps in thegovernance structure of the Black Sea could be identified as follows: no legally binding
document for fisheries and conservation of living resources in the Black Sea; no Integrated
Coastal Zone Management Protocol or other legal instrument in that area; no regional
instrument for marine protected areas; no regional legal instrument and initiatives to dealwith introduction of harmful invasive/alien species.
European legislative and policy measures
The Black Sea coastal states have varying status vis-à-vis the European Union (EU).
Bulgaria and Romania are member States, Turkey is a pre-accession country and Ukraine
and Georgia are involved in the European Neighbourhood Policy. The EU-Russian
relationship is based on a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. The EuropeanCommunity has been a party to the Convention on Biological Diversity since 1993. In 2003 it
became party to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. The EU is a party to Europe’s
Regional Sea Conventions such as OSPAR (North East Atlantic), the Helsinki Convention(Baltic Sea) and the Barcelona Convention (Mediterranean Sea).Several regionalorganisations and initiatives with the participation of the EU are currently well on track in theregion. The EU environmental policy aims to achieve sustainability by including
environmental protection in EU sectoral policies, preventive measures, the “polluter pays”
principle, combating environmental pollution at source, and shared responsibility.
Summary and Conclusions
The Black Sea has a rich and unique biodiversity resulting from its semi-enclosed geography
and confluence of several major rivers. Until recent times, this biodiversity underpinned ahighly productive ecosystem that provided, among other benefits, abundant fisheryresources. Wild species and their habitats have been under massive human threat. The
human impact on the Black Sea biodiversity is consequently rapidly growing, includingtransformation of natural shore areas for resorts/recreation areas and pollution due toshipping of oil. Effective measures for the conservation of natural resources are now urgent.
There is a need for the development of, and improvement in, the existing monitoring
and reporting system used for contaminants in the Black Sea. An improvement should
provide comparable data sets for pollutant loads (from direct discharges and river inputs)
and for other parameters. The acceptance of standardized methods by all countries is also
an important issue which needs to be addressed as well as fun-ding for suitable equipment
and staffing. Operational national quality assurance programmes for the intercomparison/inter calibration of chemical concentration and flow data from point sources isalso needed. Given the specific features of the Black Sea and especially the fact that theDanube River appears to be the principal source of land-based marine pollution, the effortsof the coastal states should be harmonized with those non-coastal states that belong to theDanube River and other inflowing trans boundary rivers. The unique biological diversity of
the Black Sea could be saved through an efficient legal and institutional framework. The
existence of two different legal regimes of the Black Sea biodiversity and marine pollution
from Trans boundary watercourses raises the question of their compatibility and practicaleffectiveness.

18

References
1. Capet Arthur, Stanev Emil V., Beckers Jean-Marie, Murray James W., GrégoireMarilaure (2016) Decline of the Black Sea oxygen inventory. Bio-geosciences, 13 (4):1287 DOI: 10.5194/bg-13-1287-2016.
2. Oral Nilüfer (2012) The Legal framework of cooperation for protection of marine
biodiversity in the Black Sea. Revue Juridique de l’Environment, Vol. 2, pp. 255-267.
3. Penchev, Georgi, Protection of the waters of Black Sea from pollution, Problems of theLaw of Sea, 1988, No. 1, pp. 59-69.
4. Vinogradov, Sergei (2007) Marine Pollution via Trans boundary Watercourses – AnInterface of the “Shoreline” and “River-Basin” Regimes in the Wider Black Sea Region.–
The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law, Vol. 22, no. 4, December 2007
5. Zaitsev, Mamaev, V. O. (1997) Biological Diversity in the Black Sea: A study of changeand decline. Black Sea Environmental Series. Vol. 3. New York, United Nations
Publishing.
6. http://web.worldbank.org/archive/website00225B/WEB/OTHER/ENVIRONM.HTM?OpenDocument

19