VOG 2005 New Thread

F.A.O penrynner

The Black Sea is widely recognized as one of the regional seas most damaged by human activity. Almost one third of the entire land area of continental Europe drains into this sea. It is an area that includes major parts of 17 countries, 13 capital cities and some 160 million persons. The second, third and fourth major European rivers, the Danube, Dnieper and Don, discharge into this sea, while its only connection to the world’s oceans is the narrow Bosphorus Strait. The Strait is as little as 70 metres deep and 700 metres wide but the depth of the Black Sea itself exceeds two kilometres in places. Contaminants and nutrients enter the Black Sea mainly via river run-off and by direct discharge from land-based sources.