On February 19, in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, representatives of ROSRAO introduced the pilot project of the company on the elimination of part of unauthorized landfills along the coast of the Kola Bay at a meeting on the retrieval and disposal of sunken ships, held by the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and Presidential Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yuri Trutnev.

The meeting was devoted to the development of measures to clean up the Far East from flooded and sunken ships.

ROSRAO has unique experience in the field of clearing water areas from flooded and sunken ships. In 2017, a pilot project was implemented in the Murmansk Region to eliminate part of unauthorized landfills along the coast of the Kola Bay, which was included in a set of priority measures aimed at eliminating the effects of pollution and other negative environmental impacts as a result of economic and other activities.

During the implementation of this pilot project, a comprehensive survey of the Kola Bay was carried out in 2016. During the survey, the side-scan sonar covered 4560 km and found 102 objects of flooded and sunken ships.

Based on this, a register of sunken objects was compiled, a cleaning program was developed, and in 2017, two objects were lifted on the north-west coast in the area of Retinskaya Bay.

Currently, the number of objects sunk in the Kola Bay is 100 units. Almost all of these objects relate to movable property, do not have an owner, or it cannot be detected.

Taking into account the powers of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation to eliminate accumulated environmental damage on the continental shelf of the Russian Federation, in inland sea waters, in the territorial sea or in the adjacent zone of the Russian Federation, the issue was considered to take measures to clear the waters of the Kola Bay from flooded vessels under the federal project "Clean country" of the national project "Ecology".

The participants of the meeting discussed the application of the experience obtained by ROSRAO in cleaning the waters of the Far East.