Caspian Sea oil slick in northern Iran

Almaty. March 20. Silkroadnews – A huge oil slick is spotted on the Caspian Sea not far from the coast in Northern Province of Mazandaran in Iran. This causes serious environmental concerns, as Iranian Jamejam Online reports.
An executive director of Environmental organization in Mazandaran Province Nasser Mehrdadi said that the size of the slick noticed in the coastal waters is estimated at around 2000 sq. m. “The preliminary analysis shows that oil exploration and development activities at the Caspian Sea were the cause of that slick”, he said in an interview to the Mehr correspondent.
“This slick will soon reach the coastal line of the Province and it will have negative environmental consequences”, he also noticed.
The slicks first appeared in the neighbouring province of Gilan Province and then started moving to the east to reach Mazandaran coast.
Another expert on marine ecosystem, Professor Ayatollah Khapigi distinguishes 4 main types of factors in contamination of Caspian Sea: industrial, agricultural, biological and microbial.
He highlighted that microbial contamination presents a greater level of danger for the Iranian part of Caspian Sea than a chemical one. “Because of the close proximity of factories to the local rivers, untreated waste end up the waters, which results in serious microbial contamination of the Caspian Sea. It is much stronger type of contamination for the aquarium”, he said.
Mister Khapigi also said that there are a few oil slicks along the coast lines of the Caspian Sea, which is why the clean-up is necessary. The fact that the pipelines are worn out further worsens ecological situation, as it leads to oil spills and slicks.