Giant emissions of unknown substance in the Bothnian Sea – area as 77,000 residential plots
A very large release of an unknown substance has been discovered in the Bothnian Sea. “The size indicates that a crime has been committed,” says Jonatan Tholin, head of the preliminary investigation at the Coast Guard.
The discharge in the Bothnian Sea just north of Gävle was discovered by a satellite on Wednesday morning. The Coast Guard’s aircraft have released sampling buoys into the water to find out what the discharge consists of, but the samples have not yet been analyzed and it is therefore unclear which substance has been released.
– We have discovered a discharge of a substance unknown to us, and it extends over 20 land miles out at sea. It has a surface coverage of 77 square kilometers, which corresponds to about 77,000 residential plots, so it is a very large surface coverage, says Jonatan Tholin, head of preliminary investigation at the Coast Guard to TT.
Not mineral oil
About half of the emissions extend into Sweden’s economic zone, and the other half into Finland’s economic zone. The Coast Guard works on the hypothesis that the discharge comes from a cargo ship that has cleaned the cargo tanks out at sea
– Our assessment is that it is not some form of mineral oil product, such as petrol, diesel or heavy oil. But otherwise we do not actually know what it is until we have analyzed it, says Tholin.
Prosecutors have launched a preliminary investigation into environmental crimes. The Coast Guard assists the investigation in finding out, among other things, which ships have been in the area.
– We map the ship traffic in the area, hold interrogations and collect various types of information to create an idea of where the discharge came from, and also to be able to find out to what extent it is illegal or not. It may seem strange, but you have to release certain substances into the sea under certain conditions. But the size of the discharge indicates that a crime has been committed, says Tholin.
Flying over the area
There is no urgent threat that the substance will reach land. The Coast Guard has not yet decided whether the discharge should be limited or remediated.
– We can not decide until we know what the substance is, whether it is controllable or cleanable. What we are doing right now is that we have planes up in the air that fly over the areas and form an opinion about what it looks like, says Tholin.
